


Star Fox: La Rose Noire

by WelchAndTheMachine



Category: Star Fox Series
Genre: Gay, Homosexuality, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:42:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27950210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelchAndTheMachine/pseuds/WelchAndTheMachine
Summary: Sometimes the most unlikely people ender up together. Isn't it strange? One day they hate one another and the next they're together! The heart just has its own ways... even if things are quickly changing in Lylat.
Relationships: Panther Caroso/Fox McCloud
Comments: 27
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

Shopping. Just shopping. Somehow, it seems so odd to Fox it’s something he has to do. And it’s not shopping for guns or arwing parts, just groceries. A man’s gotta eat. When he was still with the team, they usually sent out a list of orders and a guy would meet them at the hangar where they docked the Great Fox.

The former pilot picked up an odd looking purple fruit with dead bits on it. He sniffed it once and smelled almost nothing. So it wasn’t bad, nor was it good. As to what it actually is, he had no idea. That’s when a kind samaritan explained what it is, but not before making Fox jump a bit at how deep and smooth their voice is. “That’s a dragon fruit. It’s pretty bland, but they’re almost as beautiful as a rose.”

That last comment made Fox’s ears raise. Swiftly, he turned around and was greeted by two yellow eyes. Then he looked at the rest of the fairly muscular body. It’s Panther Caroso. Upon that realization, Fox jumped and nearly fell into the dragon fruit display, but the feline grabbed his right hand and left shoulder. Panther accidentally pulled Fox a bit harder than necessary so that the man was pulled right into his chest. Fox was stunned for a moment and so was Panther. But like usual, he had a smooth line. “Oh, seems I’ve reeled in quite the catch.” He said, smirking.

“Let me go, Panther.” Fox demanded.

“Now why would I do that? I have _the_ Fox McCloud in my clutches. Letting something like this go would be foolish.”

“Panther, people are staring.” He said plainly.

Panther looked around the store and saw that there are quite a few people staring at the two. Some of them would probably recognize them. One was a young kid who spoke pretty loudly, asking his mother if that man under the hoodie is Fox McCloud. The mother said she didn’t know and pushed the cart away with the child in it. The older mercenary laughed nervously as Fox glared at him. “I suppose you were right, people were staring.”

“Yeah.” Fox replied in a snobbish tone. 

“So… this is awkward.”

“Sorta. You’re clean and no longer have a bounty on your head. As far as the law is concerned, you’re as clean as they get.”

He smiled. “And I have you to thank for that. Speaking of which, I never really thanked you for getting us pardoned, and I’m sure Leon and Wolf would too.” He then paused and held his chin in compilation. “Okay, maybe not. The first thing Leon did was murder someone and Wolf’s too proud to thank you. Me, on the other hand, am not afraid to give you my thanks.”

“Oh… No problem. Thanks for actually saying thank you.”

Panther laughed a bit. “I’m glad I was the first. I actually want to take my thanks further and take you out to dinner, if you don’t mind?”

The vulpine raised his eyebrows. “Really? Wouldn’t Krystal find that awkward?”

He bobbed his head side to side. “It doesn’t really matter now… on account that we broke up.”

“You did?!” Fox asked a bit too loud. “You two seemed totally crazy about each other! I thought you were a cute couple.”

“As did I, but she was so… insecure. Every time I would go out she thought I was with another woman, which I wasn’t.” He fixed his stature. “Panther is loyal till the end. Either way, it became really, really unhealthy. I had to break it off.”

“Sorry to hear that.” The younger man replied. “I did get that feeling, though. She always thought she was dragging the team down.”

“It must be hard being an outsider on this planet. It’s a whole new culture.”

“Deep Science just found a person in a capsule.”

“I read about that!”

The two talked about the odd person found in a space capsule out in dead space. Just the fact alone that he was found is astonishing. It’s a chance out of trillions. Apparently, this person doesn’t speak a lick of standard and is a species no one’s ever seen before. He has horns, wings with a normal body. If Fox wasn’t mistaken, the article said that he could breathe fire and ignite his entire body. Thankfully, he’s very friendly, despite his lack of their language. “There’s a whole other universe out there.” Fox said. “I only realized that when I was in the Smash Tournament.”

“While it was fun to watch you fight in that, I always cheered for Samus.” Panther replied.

“Why, because she’s hot?” Fox jokingly asked.

The muscular man laughed. “Maybe just a bit. That suit doesn't leave much to the imagination.”

“You know, I could introduce you to her. We’re really good friends.”

“Thank you, but I’ll have to decline. I’m already planning on having dinner with you.”

“Speaking of which, when do you want to go?”

“I’m free tomorrow at five. I’ll book us a reservation and text you where we’ll go.”

“Then I need your number.”

Panther pulled out his phone and gave his possible new friend his number. After that, the two went their separate ways and finished their shopping. They saw each other again in the checkout line and talked as their items got rang up. When Panther’s was getting his done, Fox even waited so they could talk as they went to their car. While he didn’t mean to, Panther ended up following Fox to his car and helped put his groceries in. He ended up doing the same, then found himself talking for five more minutes until Fox’s roommate texted him that he needed the ingredients he sent him out for now so that he could cook dinner. But for that entire time, they talked about past battles and how all of their friends are. 

Fox got into his car and began to drive home. The entire time he was smiling like an idiot just from the friendly encounter. On top of that, his favorite rockabilly music was playing on the radio. He loves Imelda May and her song, _Mayhem_ is playing. He jammed along to it, but got a little too into it and didn’t notice when he totally ran a red light. It made him nervously laugh the rest of the ride through, worried that he would get pulled over. He didn’t stop until he pulled up to his house on the port.

He walked into the house with all four bags of groceries. As soon as he walked in, his senses of smell and sound were blasted. The sound of Lana Del Rey filled his ears and the smell of cooking sausage enveloped him. When he closed the door, a young komodo dragon came from the living room with a bright smile. “Trop bien!” He exclaimed. “As-tu les ingrédients?”

“Uh, oui?” Fox replied.

His roommate giggled. “You’re funny when you try to speak Venomillian. Now I’m going to get started on cooking while you set the table. Je l'ai?”

“Got it!”

The vulpine went into their cupboards and drawers to get the bowls and silverware. He set the table for free, as Lucien’s sister was coming to visit. His sister is one of the sweetest people Fox has ever met, as is Lucien. Hell, his entire family is really kind, despite being hated by almost everyone because they’re from Venom. There’s a lot of racism on Corneria. A lot of people blame the innocents of Venom for the war, even though it was Andross who ignited the fires of war. And the Fontaine family fled to Corneria to escape the draft, so they really had no role in the war. Now he’s here and still has to fight for his life sometimes. 

It took thirty minutes for the Venomillian to cook his tomato cheese tortellini soup. By that time, his sister had arrived. She’s a very beautiful girl. Fox would've gone after her, but she’s also a lesbian, so that’s not an option. Compared to her brother, she’s a lot more tough. She’s actually a detective. Meanwhile, her brother chose a more tame path and became an RN nurse with a BSN degree. Somedays, Lucien won’t get back home until the middle of the night. When he comes back, he’s either so excited to talk about his day or he just curls up into his bed and cries. Fox remembered one day where he came back so excited that a little girl finally got a heart for the transplant. The next day, the girl gets the surgery, which Lucien was there to help with, but she died during it due to complications. For some reason, and Fox still can’t figure it out, Lucien blamed himself. He cried for hours on his bed, then got drunk on wine. That was a month ago and he’s been able to move on. 

As the three ate dinner, Fox got a call. It’s Panther. The vulpine excused himself from the table and took the call. “Fox!” He exclaimed. “I got us reservations at La Festa!”

“Oh, I know that place!” Fox replied. “That’s where I met Lucien.”

“Lucien? That’s a guy’s name. Are you seeing another man?”

Fox laughed. “No, no, no. Lucien’s my roommate. He’s actually from Venom. We’re having it right now with his sister. You would like her, but she’s a lesbian.”

“You tried to make a move, didn’t you?”

“Yeah! Well, no. I was about to but Lucien stopped me and explained that his sister is a lesbian.”

“What about him?”

“Asexual.” He said with some disbelief in his tone. “Not attracted to anything. He has seen me multiple times nakid and barely even comments. Once I walked out of my room after a one night stand and he was carrying a thing of laundry. He just shrugged and moved on.”

“Hahaha!” Panther laughed. “Was it a good lay?”

“A bit sore in the morning, but yeah, it was fun. Didn’t expect him to be so rough, though.”

“HIM?!” The feline asked in complete shock. 

“Uh yeah… I’m bi.”

On the other end Fox could hear Panther facepalm himself. “How did I forget? One of the big ‘scandals’ about you is that you’re bi. Hell it’s the only scandal I think you have.”

“Might get another one soon. Accidentally ran a red light.”

“Rebel.”

The younger man snickered snickered. “More like stupid. I was jamming out to Imelda May.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“Rockabilly music. What do you listen to?”

“Take a wild guess first.”

Fox hummed. “Hmm… classical music.”

“Only psychopaths listen to classical!” Panther replied, sounding offended, but really wasn’t and they both knew it. “That’s Leon’s favorite.”

“Ha!” Fox laughed. 

Panther laughed a bit as well. “Either way, I listen to a lot of jazz. I’m a big Amy Winehouse fan.”

“She’s hella dead.”

“But her music isn’t.”

“Very true.”

“Listen,” The older man said slowly. “I really enjoy talking to you, but we better stop before we run out of things to talk about during dinner.”

“Fair enough. Bye Panther, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye Foxy.”

Fox hung up first and placed his phone on his bed. When he was about to open the door, he heard two sets of feet scrambling away. He opened the door and headed back into the kitchen where he found the siblings sitting at the round table, eating their soup. Their smiles gave it away. They were listening in on him. None of them brought it up and enjoyed their soup as they talked about a lot of politics. There’s a presidential candidate who’s really anti-immigrant. All of them obviously have a pact to not vote for him. Instead, they’re voting for a woman named Hedy Sappho.

She was an inventor before she got into politics, pioneering the development of long range communication systems. Now she’s pioneering equal rights for all, regardless of gender identification, race, sexuality or species. Fox is planning on endorsing her soon at a charity banquet hosted by her.

In about two hours, they were done eating and talking. Natalie left, leaving the two roommates alone. As they lounged around, Lucien made small remarks on his call with Panther. Nothing came of said remarks. That was until the nurse warned him about STDs, saying they’ve been getting a lot of HIV cases before they went to bed. Both of them went to bed peacefully, with Fox excited about his dinner with Panther tomorrow.


	2. Not Raw Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is it that when I write two political dramas they get almost no attention, but as soon as I write a gay fan-fic that it suddenly gets attention? I should've expected this from fandoms and the internet in general. Oh well, at least people like it. Also, I have this written up to chapter 4 already. I might post this daily or weekly up until chapter 4, because there is no way I can write a chapter a day! Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!

It’s four fifty and Fox had already arrived at the restaurant. The place was a lot nicer than he had expected. Because of his low expectations, all he bothered to put on was a thin olive sweater and some black jeans with brown boots. To add some hint of sophistication to his outfit, he went out without his contacts and wore his glasses. Yet he felt underdressed, especially when he saw a couple wearing a tuxedo and nice dress walking by his car. Knowing that Panther won’t find him in his car, he headed into the restaurant and told the host that he’s waiting for someone to arrive. He waited for ten minutes until the host announced that his table was ready. “Oh, I can wait here.” He said.

“Are you sure?” The owl host asked. “We serve free fresh baked bread so you can munch on something while you wait.”

With that bit of information, Fox decided he would sit at their reserved table. He decided he would order a glass of white wine to go with his bread and olive oil. Dipping bread in olive oil, pepper and parmesan cheese is something he learned from his roommate. Ever since he’s hated having bread without it.

What he wasn’t expecting was to wait another ten minutes alone. He was already almost done with his first glass of wine and he already went through three slices of bread. Finally, after yet another five minutes and a glass of wine, Panther rushed in, wearing khaki pants and a rose red polo that tightly hugs his muscles. It left little to the imagination for the vulpine, who smiled at the towering man. “I’m so sorry.” He apologized. “I live in the city and it was rush hour. It was horrible! Remind me next time to not book a reservation at five.”

“Next time?” Fox asked.

“Well, I think we’re getting along nicely. Friends go out to eat sometimes, right?”

The shorter man smiled. “Yeah, they do.”

He gestured towards the wine. “I see I’ve made you wait awhile. I’m so sorry.”

“Dude,” The vulpine snickered. “You already apologized. Now hush up and order yourself some wine and enjoy some bread.”

Panther smiled as he watched his friend dip a forth slice of bread into the olive oil. Curious like the feline he is, he followed suit. When he ate it, he grew a bright smile. Panther was about to ask more about Lucien, but his glass of red wine came and Fox got a refill. The two clinked their glasses together and Panther spoke. “To new friends and moving away from the past!”

Fox giggled before he took a sip. “To new friends.”

With that, they took a large sip of wine. Seeing that they were no longer talking, the waitress made her entrance. She recommended them the romantic dinner for two, which isn’t really romantic, but rather cheaper for the two. It gives them an appetizer, two main courses and dessert, all for forty four credits. Both of them agreed on that and did the appetizer first, which they decided on deep fried calamari. They would decide on their main courses after that and then dessert. Both of them agreed to stop eating bread so they could have room. “We wouldn’t have to worry about that if you didn’t have so many, Fox.” Panther mocked.

The tan vulpine raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t have eaten so many if you didn’t make me wait so long.”

“Heh, fair enough.”

“So, anything you want to talk about?”

“Yes, actually.” Panther fixed his posture. “So, you’re bi, right?”

“Yep!”

“Okay… stop me if I’m prying too much but… when you do… things with another man, how different is it when compared to a woman?”

Fox put down his wine glass and smiled wide. “Very different. Depends on what you do with one another. But it will always feel good if you do it right, same goes for straight sex.”

“Alright… does it… does it hurt?”

“What makes you think I’m the one who takes it?”

The straight man blushed. “N-nothing! It’s just that, I well… you're kinda…”

“Kinda what, Panther?” The vulpine folded his hands under his chin as he learned forwards. “Kinda girly or something?”

“Kinda small.” He finished. “You don’t look like the alpha male type.”

Fox smiled. “Well you’re right. Also, it feels great. Fucking terrifying at first and hurts like a bitch, but you get used to it.”

“Interesting. Who was your first man and who was your first woman?”

“Bill was my first man and first overall.”

Panther nearly spat out his wine. “Bill?!”

“Shh, quiet down. But yeah, Bill was my first. It was just friends with benefits. We were never really boyfriends.”

“And your first woman?”

“Fara.”

“Ah, makes sense. Did you do it with Krystal when you dated?”

“Sorta.” He replied. “It was all… clothed. We never really had time with our teammates running around constantly.”

“Gotcha. Well, you missed out."

They then went into Panther’s sex life, which is obviously filled with woman. One thing he did say, however, is that he and Wolf got really drunk once and decided they would try things together, but right before they got down to it, they got really sick and threw up. That made Fox cringe just hearing it and so did the cringed remembering it. That’s when their food came. There are a total of eighteen calamari, so they splitted it nine, nine. “So Panther, I’m going to ask it here and now; who are you voting for?”

“Hedy Sappho.” He answered immediately.

Fox smiled. “You’re a keeper. My roommate and I made a pact to vote for her."

"Everyone should be accepted in Lylat. My brot- I mean sister," Panther cleared his throat. "Is currently transitioning. Sorry, it's hard to remember."

"It's good. My dad was a huge advocate for all that stuff and Hedy is actually his ex-girlfriend. They broke up because of their careers."

"Do you think she could've been your mother?"

Fox shrugged. "Beats me. I just know that I wouldn't be me then. Different DNA, you know?"

"Well, of course. Oh! Speaking of genetics, I learned that I have the rarest blood type in Lylat."

"What is that, AB-?" Fox asked.

"Nope! It's called Rhnull blood. What's so special about it is that it regulates my cholesterol, so I never have to worry about high cholesterol levels."

The vulpine's jaw dropped. "No way! That's so cool!"

Panther continued on about the other benefits of Rhnull blood, like how it's compatible with any other Rh family. He's one of the nine donors of this 'golden blood.' Because it is so rare, his identity is kept a secret so that nobody would go after him.

After awhile of talking more politics, they both realized they had been talking to one another so much they haven’t picked their menus back up. Both of them whipped the menus up to their faces, making the woman laugh. It took them less than a minute to decide what they wanted. Fox decided on some fettuccine alfredo while the other got a rare steak.

They went back to their conversation about politics. While that happened, things started to heat up in the table behind them. Fox heard a man speak. “Tell the chef if I wanted this cremated, I wouldn’t have ordered it rare.”

Fox whispered to his partner. “You might be in some trouble.”

“Sounds like it.” He replied as he sipped his wine.

About ten minute later, their orders came out, as well as the man’s. Panther cut into his steak and saw that it was in fact rare. When he took a bite, he melted. It’s perfect for him, but the man seemed very upset still. “Ask the chef if he’s ever seen a rare steak before.” He told the waitress.

This time, the two could see that the waitress herself was getting mad. It took a lot of effort for her not to swear at the man as she took it back to the kitchen. Fox swore he could see her mouth moving as she cussed under her breath. He was digging into his food when Panther pointed at the kitchen door with a bright smile. There, the door flung open and a tall, very muscular albino wolf with long rose gold hair done up in a ponytail came out. At the side of his head is a beef fork with a raw steak on it. He walked to the table and stabbed the fork into the table, going through the tablecloth and splintering the table. “Rare enough for you?” He asked as he stood straight and crossed his arms.

The pig stuttered. “What? Are you out of your mind?!”

“Yep, that’s why I’m in therapy.”

The owner, a decently tall middle aged golden retriever woman, came out of nowhere and began to attempt to remove the beef fork, but found it stuck in there. When she released it, she used a napkin to pick up the steak. “I am so sorry.” She apologized. “I’ll get you a new tablecloth.”

“Please,” The chef said. “Allow me.”

Without any warning, he grabbed onto the tablecloth and tugged. Nothing came off of the table, nor did anything spill. A woman at the table laughed, saying that she’s impressed. Fox laughed too, but Panther stared. He looked very, very concerned. “Panther,” He said, still laughing. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I know him.” The feline stated. “Oh my god.”

Fox leaned forwards. “How do you know him?”

“That’s Wolf’s son!”

Upon hearing ‘Wolf’s son’, the chef turned his head away from his boss and widened his eyes at the sight of the feline. “Uncle Panther?” He asked, astonished.

“Leonidas,” The uncle said standing up. “You’re… alive?”

“Please don’t tell my father.” Leonidas begged begged.

Panther placed a hand on his head. “I’m so confused.”

“Listen to me.” The albino placed both hands on Panther’s shoulders. He whispered close. “I faked my death, okay? You know how my dad was.”

“I-I…” He sighed. “I know. Trust me, I know.”

“You know why I had to run. And the only way I knew how to get rid of him was to fake my death.”

“Okay. Just… Just give me your number so we can keep in touch.”

Leonidas smiled. “Deal.”

Fox watched this all go down and was completely shocked. Wolf has a secret son that faked his own death to escape? That was mind blowing to him. However, it also shouldn’t have surprised him, given Wolf’s reputation. What was shocking is how clean his son is, despite faking his own death. He’s the head chef at a high end restaurant, while his father runs drug smuggling operations. When Panther sat back down, he finished off his wine. “That’s Wolf’s son.” He said.

“I didn’t think Wolf was that old.” Fox replied, trying to lighten the mood.

Panther giggled. “Yeah, he is. Wolf’s fifty two now. His son’s only twenty five. He faked his death when he was sixteen. Apparently that assassin didn’t really kill him.”

“Wow.” The former pilot whispered. “Was Wolf really that bad?”

“He was that bad because Leonidas didn’t want to be like him. Leo wanted to be a world famous chef. His father called him a pussy and would beat him.” He began to tear up. “Almost every night, he would come to my room crying. He was really thin. I tried to get him to eat, but he just never seemed hungry. Even if he wanted to eat, Wolf starved him so that he wouldn’t be strong enough to ever challenge him. So it was up to me to feed him and patch him up.”

“And you never left Wolf?” Fox asked.

“I couldn’t. I signed a contract with him. Plus, if I left, who would Leo be able to turn to? A large part of the reason I stayed was because of him. When he died,” He sniffled. “It felt like I lost my son. Wolf didn’t care and neither did Leon. I was the only one to show up to his ‘funeral.’”

“How do you feel now?”

The big cat smiled brightly. “Happy. I’m so happy he’s alive and has grown big and strong.” Tears started to fall. “And look at him, he’s the head chef at one of the best restaurants on Corneria!” His voice got thin. “I’m so proud of him.”

Just like that, the dams broke and tears strolled down the black-furred face. Upon seeing this, Fox swapped to his side of the booth and hugged Panther. He used the napkin on his lap to wipe away the tears that made it past his hands. That’s when a large shadow loomed over them, but something sparkled. It’s Leonidas again, but he’s holding a large slice of chocolate cake with a sparkling candle. “I’m sorry uncle.” He apologized. “But because of you, I’m where I am now. You always believed in me and if you didn’t, I would’ve died long ago.” He placed down the cake in front of him. “Thank you… and I’m so sorry for leaving the way I did.”

“It’s okay.” The uncle replied. “You’re here, you’re alive and that’s what I’m happy about. I’m so proud of you.”

Leonidas hugged him. “Thank you uncle. Now, I need to get back to cooking. Call me tomorrow, I have the day off then.”

“Will do.”

The albino hugged his uncle one last time before going back into the kitchen. Panther cried softly and Fox continued to comfort him. When he was done, the vulpine went back to his side and smiled. “You know, Panther, this is like… a whole new light.”

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“This side of you, it’s beautiful. It makes me realize just how much better you are than Wolf and Leon combined. You were too good for Krystal and you didn’t deserve how she treated you. I’m sorry I didn’t pardon you sooner.”

Panther held both of his friend's hands. “Thank you, Fox. It means a lot coming from you. Unlike the others, I hope to move on.”

The vulpine gripped his hands tighter. “I know you do.”

There was an awkward pause after that, with Panther still holding onto Fox’s hands. He let go after a moment and went to his steak. After a while of silence, the younger man grew tired of it. “So… what do you do for a living?” Fox asked, trying to keep a conversation going.

“Oh, I’m a mixologist at a rooftop bar downtown Corneria City.”

“Wow!” He exclaimed. “That’s really cool. Where at?”

“It’s called the Empire Rooftop Bar.” Panther answered. “So what about you? What does the great Fox McCloud do for a living now?”

Fox snickered. “I’m a teacher. Went to college as soon as I dissolved the team and got my teaching’s license. I teach Earth history and piloting.”

“Earth history?”

“Uh yeah, they needed another class to be filled and I took a minor in Earth history when I went back to school. So I had the qualifications and now I’m doing that and the piloting class. Pays really good too.”

“Yet you have a roommate. What’s up with that?”

“Listen,” Fox giggled. “We live in a house on the pier with a great view of the amusement park across the bay. Every Friday, they launch fireworks and we have the perfect view.” He leaned back and took a sip of his wine. “And I bought a boat which I’m still paying off.”

The big cat laughed loudly, dropping his fork of steak. Fox kept on telling him to stop and that he’s a jerk, but was laughing at the same time. It took a minute for them to stop laughing. “Y-you bought a boat?” Panther asked breathlessly.

“I got a good deal, okay?! Came with a built in grill, a bar and a love room.”

“Love room?!” The man wheezed.

“Well, it was a bedroom, but I added a few things.”

He wheezed again. “Oh my god. Okay, okay… let’s talk about your roommate. Is he any good?”

“Well he's a great cook. Too bad he can't cook more often. He’s an RN nurse at Hope Hospital downtown Corneria City and he's almost always busy.”

Panther shook his head. “Brave man. Nurses are the best in our society in my book.”

“Right?!” Fox agreed. “I said that to him and he told me a story about a psychopathic nurse they had there.”

“No!”

“Yes! He said she would keep patients drugged and would give them cuts under their clothes. Because they’re so drugged, they couldn’t speak! Lucien caught her doing this during a 24 hour shift and ended up having to stab her eye out!”

“Holy shit.” Panther exclaimed. “What happened then?”

“Well first, Lucien got a raise from the hospital and an award from the mayor, then he took the bitch to court and absolutely smashed her down. She got a life sentence because of him.”

“I like your roommate.”

“I’ll introduce you to him sometime.”

For the rest of the dinner, they talked about their jobs and how they hope to advance in them. Panther wants to open his own bar and Fox hopes to train the next great hero of Lylat, and he thinks he’s already found one.

That person is an eighteen year old German shepherd whose birth planet is Aquas. While there’s no real population on the planet other than the soldiers in the military bases, his parents conceived him and bore him on the planet. As a result, he’s the only native born Aquian in all of Lylat. And being born to soldiers, he was raised at the military base, where he learned about firearms and arwing controls. His nickname is ‘The Blue Barron.' Blue because he’s always wearing the Aquian military flag as a scarf around his neck, which is light blue like the sky and has waves going along the bottom. He’s a Baron because his mother is apparently from a very small branch of the Conerian Royal Family.

They talked for about an hour before they decided it was late, now being eight in the afternoon. They have been eating and talking for three hours. Each of them had left overs, but they brought another meal home as well from the classic menu.

As a chauffeur pulled up Fox’s car, he said a few words to his new friend. “Thanks for this, Panther. And thanks for paying too.”

“You’re most welcome.” He replied, bowing and picking up the vulpine's hand to kiss it. “Please, take this as one last gift.”

From his pocket he pulled out a tissue. It was wrapped around something until he began to undo it. Inside is a perfectly preserved rosebud, not wilted at all. At first, Fox thought it was fake until he sniffed it. It’s a rose alright. “Thank you, Panther, it’s lovely.” The small man said as he took it.

Panther smiled. “Of course.”

“Now I see how you lured Krystal away from me. You’ve got a lot of charm, hot stuff.”

“W-what?” The flustered feline asked.

“Oh come on, you’re hot shit and you know it. And after today… I’ve got to see a whole different side of you.” Fox smiled brightly. “I think you’re someone I’d like to share everything with.”

“Fox, what are you saying?”

The vulpine took both of his hands and looked dead into his eyes. “Panther, will you marry me?”

Of course, the heterosexual man was confused. One, he barely knows Fox. And two, he's not even into him. Needless to say, he’s more than confused. He knew he had to shoot down Fox, but he didn’t want to break his heart. After an intense thirty seconds of him sweating and stuttering, the proposee began to laugh. “I-I’m sorry,” He said. “It’s something I saw on the Golden Girls and always wanted to do it. Sorry.”

Panther breathed in relief. “I-It’s okay. It’s actually pretty funny now that I know you’re joking.”

“Glad you find it funny. Either way, I had a really, really good time. I actually want to do more with you.”

“Maybe you can visit me at the bar tomorrow. I have to work tomorrow, so that’ll free things up. I’m assuming because tomorrow’s Saturday, you’ll be off?”

“Correct you are! I’ll meet you then. Give me the address?”

“Sure. Also, come whenever you like. I work between two and ten in the afternoon.”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

With that, the two hugged goodbye and Fox climbed into his car. For most of the drive, he was smiling like an idiot. Panther was doing the same. The vulpine got back to his house first. He was greeted to an empty house, as Lucien’s working a twenty four hour shift. The komodo only does this once or twice a week and tonight was one of those nights. So for the rest of the night, until midnight, he graded papers. Before deciding to go to bed, he managed to grade half of his papers. Most of them were A's or B's, but there were a few C's. At least none of them failed. 

The night was mostly peaceful, until he heard the garage door open and then door open. It was loud enough to wake Fox up. He got up in his boxers and headed into the living room, where he found Lucien wandering towards the couch. He looks really, really tired. His clothes are sweaty, eyes bloodshot and huge bags under his eyes. Today was a really bad day, Fox could tell. The komodo then crashed on the couch and cried into one of the pillows. His friend kneeled down next to him and rubbed the back of his head as he sobbed. “What happened today?” He asked.

“W-we had a mother… she had cancer and she died around her children, her husband and every other family member… merde.”

Fox sighed. He remembers Lucien talking about the woman and how she’s probably going to die, but still kept his hopes high. Now that she’s dead, he's crashing. Like almost any good nurse, he always forces himself to form bonds with his patients, no matter how much it hurts him in the end. Once, Fox asked why he does this. The nurse told him that he wants to make sure the patients feel like they have a friend during their stay. A lot of them say thank you as they pass away, holding his hand. For each person who has no family, Lucien forces himself to stay till the bitter end with them. All he wants is for someone not to die alone.

Once the komodo had calmed down a bit, Fox took off his shirt and pants before carrying him to his bedroom. He put the exhausted nurse into his bed and tucked him in. Before he walked out of the room, he turned on the diffuser and the scent of lavender filled the room. It helps the Venomillian sleep after the long nights. Now that Lucien’s able to rest, so can Fox.

Ever since Fox met his roommate, it’s felt like he now has the brother he never had. He didn’t even know he wanted a brother until then. Since, he feels more comfortable. And with Panther now in his life, he feels like he can start a fulfilling life of his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I just wanted to put this here and explain why Lucien is here. I come from a long line of nurses, which my mother eventually broke. My grandmother was actually a nurse that participated in the first heart transplant in Wisconsin. I'm planning on becoming a nurse too and I just got accepted into my ideal nursing college literally today. Either way, I put Lucien in to just simply appreciate nurses, especially during these hard times. They're some of the best of society and I hope to join their ranks some day. On top of that, Lucien's a good voice of reason and that's needed in life, so why not throw him in there? And uh... sorry about any stupid mistakes I missed. It's usually something small and let me know in the comments if I missed anything. Thanks for reading!


	3. Up On the Rooftop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one I took a bit more time on after receiving some very constructive comments. I had a third chapter set up, but I deleted it completely and rewrote it to hopefully make things more interesting and go into more character depth. Truly, I am thankful to this person who helped me and I hope this new chapter reflects their constructive criticism. Also, I apologize for any stupid mistakes. No matter how many times I read over this I feel like there are things that I missed. If anyone sees a mistake, let me know I'll edit and fix it.

The next day, Fox left to go to downtown Corneria at 6:30 in the afternoon. He hoped to beat the traffic, but soon learned that traffic in the city is almost constant. Walking would be better, which is what he did. He managed to find a parking spot in a garage and bought five hours of time. This time, as he walked out of the garage, he was immediately recognized by the security guard in the booth. “Wow you’re really Fox McCloud?” He exclaimed. “Mind if I get a pic to send to my family?”

“Alright, but I look like a bum.” Fox replied.

“What are you talking about? You look like you’re going for a fun night out!”

The man was right. This time, the vulpine dressed himself in a thick jean jacket with fuzz around the neck and cuffs. Under it he has on a white shirt and a golden necklace. Then there’s the return of his black jeans, but wore red tennis shoes this time. However, his mohawk is a bit messy.

After the picture, Fox went out onto the streets and pulled out his phone to get the address of the bar. It’s about six blocks down. So that’s a lot of people that could recognize him and a few did. Of course they asked for pictures and their hero was too kind to deny them. It did make him worry about the possibility of the media being around. How would they twist it if they got a photo of two former enemies hanging out? It made Fox nervous, and rightfully so. Day by day he wishes he was like Sia.

On other days, he wishes he wasn’t himself at all. While he had a natural talent for piloting, all he ever wanted to do was help. When he was young, he’d tell his dad that he was going to work for the Blue Cross, which was a relief organization that operates all over Lylat. Sadly, the Blue Cross fell apart when the leader of it, a doctor named Salvatore Del Rey, was killed during the Lylat Wars when he attempted to evacuate some Venomillian refugees. What made it worse was that he was shot down by Cornerian fighters. His death was a big reason that Fox refused to work with the Cornerian military directly.

Even if he did serve with the military, he would still have the memories. There’s a reason he doesn’t live in the city, and that’s because it’s simply too much. The flashing lights and loud noises remind him of a dogfight. So he hurried and kept his hood up with some earbuds in.

By the time he got to the bar, it was 7:15 and the sun was setting. The building that houses the bar has sixty stories, but the bar situated on one of the larger balconies connected to a floor full of restaurants. At the center of that floor was a small lobby, with benches in the center placed next to small ponds housing Ryukin fish. So before going up, Fox took some time to let the fish nibble on his fingers. It was something he used to do when he was a kid when his mother would take him to this big Macbethian deli that had fountains full of fish in the front. When he was that small one fish was able to actually able to envelope a finger. His mother had to pull it off of him. Just remembering his mother made the orphan retract his hand and head out to the bar.

Through some large glass doors, Fox stepped out onto the bar floor. The bar looks incredibly nice. Around the deck are four individual bars shaped in a circle with a large cylinder of shelves holding countless bottles of very alcoholic drinks. In each bar are two bartenders. Next the edges of the deck, placed against bushes in square pots, are more chairs and tables. Almost all of the seats are full. However, there was still only one open, right in front of where a familiar-looking black feline is working.

Fox smiled and made his way over to Panther, who is wearing a tight white dress shirt with a black bow tie and dress pants. The vulpine sat down at the open seat and waited for his friend to recognize him. After about two minutes of running around the bar, the bartender stopped in front of him and spoke. “Apologies sir, it’s quite busy tonight.”

“No worries.” Fox replied with a wink.

As soon as he spoke the ears and tail of the feline shot up. He turned to the shorter male and gasped right before hugging his friend over the bar. “Oh you’re here!” He exclaimed. “I was getting worried! My boss was about to take away the seat I reserved for you.”

“Thanks Panther, that’s really sweet of you.”

“My pleasure. Now, may I get you a complimentary drink?”

“Sounds perfect.”

“What would you like?”

The vulpine paused for a moment before coming up with an answer. “Surprise me!”

A bright smile grew on Panther’s face. “Right away, sir.”

The feline turned around and grabbed an assortment of liquors and vodkas. From under the bar, he pulled out a cocktail mixer and placed it onto the bar. He then threw the bottles into the air and caught the necks between his fingers, which poured out the sweet liquors into the mixer. Then went in some perfectly cubed ice, along with a few fruits too. When it was done, Panther poured the red cocktail into an oval shaped glass and slid it to Fox, with a rosebud following soon afterwards. Before the recipient drank it, he spoke. “What is it?”

“It’s a Black Widow cocktail.” The mixologist answered. “My signature drink. The rose is edible, by the way.”

“Oh what is it?”

“It’s just frozen cake frosting.”

The vulpine gasped with excitement. “Yum!”

Immediately, Fox reached for the rosebud and put it into his mouth. A bright childish smile spread across his face as he chewed the rosebud that fell apart in his mouth. It made the larger man giggle as he made another drink for a different patron. It’s the person next to Fox, who is slowly starting to look more and more familiar to him.

The rabbit woman is wearing a textured red dress with back edgings. It leaves her shoulders and back bare, so it must be a little chilly. At least she’s wearing black pantyhose that actually go really well with the dress. Finally, after receiving her drink, she glanced over at Fox. Immediately she recognized him. “Fox!” She exclaimed. “I didn’t know you come here.”

Her exclamation made the nervous pilot jump. He feared that she might be a member of the press, but when he got himself together and turned to her, he immediately recognized who she was. “Lucy!” He squealed as he wrapped his arms around her. “It’s so good to see you!”

The woman laughed loudly. “Hahah! It’s good to see you too Fox! How long has it been?”

“Too long!”

Fox held the hug a bit longer until Panther came over with a smirk. “How do you two know each other?” He asked.

“Panther, this is Lucy, Peppy’s daughter.” The vulpine answered.

Lucy narrowed her eyes and studied the former mercenary. “Wait…” She said slowly. “Panther? Like Panther Caroso?”

The bartender nodded meekly. “That’s me, but I have nothing to do with Star Wolf anymore.”

The woman froze for a moment, just staring at Panther. Now Fox was worried. If this goes badly, what would the others think? Aside from Lucy and Lucien, nobody knows about his new friendship. Falco would most certainly throw a fit. At least it isn’t Leon. Those two had a rivalry to fuel a fire for centuries. Slippy would probably just have a panic attack. And Peppy would most likely just give him the silent treatment.

Thankfully, Lucy grew a soft smile. “It’s nice to see you made something of yourself kitty. Too bad your old teammates didn’t as well.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Fox.” He replied. “Thank you again.”

“You don’t need to keep thanking me, man!” The vulpine exclaimed. “Just keep the drinks coming.”

Already the Black Widow Cocktail was almost gone, so Panther began making another one. He actually prioritized it over another customer’s drink, but made it quickly. Watching him work the bar was like an art and Fox kept on watching whilst talking to Lucy. “Fox when was the last time we hooked up? She asked suddenly.

The man blushed. “It’s uh… it’s been awhile.”

“Before I was pregnant, right?”

“Yeah. Piper’s not mine, is she?”

“No, you’re good. It was another guy.”

Fox let out a breath of relief. “Oh thank god. I would’ve felt awful that I haven’t been doing anything.”

“Trust me, I would’ve made you pay child support.” She replied, snickering. “In case you were wondering, Piper’s doing good. She’s with Peppy right now so I can go out and take a night for myself.”

“So you’re free for the night?” He asked.

The woman smirked. “And what if I am?”

“Like you said,” The vulpine reached for her thigh. “It’s been awhile.”

“It has.”

This all went down right in front of Panther, who had to contain his laughter. It really did seem like the two were about to hook up. Fox flirted and she flirted right back. Unfortunately for them, Lucy got a call from her father saying that Piper threw up. Needless to say, she had to go. “Dammit.” The man muttered. “Panther! Can I get another drink, please?”

“Of course.” He replied. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Lucy and I just haven’t had fun with each other in a long time.”

“How long?”

“It’s been almost two years. She had a baby.”

“Well that would do it."

Panther turned around and resumed making a third Black Widow Cocktail. He ended up making Fox two more over the night and the vulpine got drunk quickly. By the end, he was too drunk to even walk. Or that’s what the bartender thought until the drunken patron managed to get himself up and go to the karaoke stage. He yelled at the DJ to play Piano Man, which he did. Soon, the harmonica started and the vulpine spoke. “For a song called the fuckin’ Piano Man, the guy with the harmonica doesn’t shut the fuck up!”

Some in the bar laughed and the others just waited for Fox to begin to sing. Panther was really looking forward to it, and was not disappointed. Who knew that the vulpine had such lovely pipes? While he was a bit high-pitched, he sounded good overall. When he was done, he threw the microphone over the ledge of the building. Immediately Panther knew he had to get the drunken man under control.

With permission from his boss, the bartender came out from his bar and grabbed the golden boy just as he was about to get into a fight with another patron who insulted his singing. “Let me go Panth… I’m gonna teach him a lesson.” Fox slurred.

“I’m taking you to my apartment. You’re drunk.” The feline replied.

“I’m fine!”

To really make sure he didn’t hurt himself, Panther lifted the smaller man up and carried him in bridal style. At first, the former pilot was annoyed, but then gazed at the pec next to his face. He leaned against it. “It’s like a meaty pillow.” He whispered. “You’re a snack… No, a whole damn meal.” Fox looked up at his carrier. “And I’m hungry.”

The feline turned bright red. “N-no, you’re drunk. I’m taking you to my apartment.”

“You don’t need to be so direct, big boy.”

That comment made the ‘big boy’ roll his eyes. He spoke to himself. “Note to self: drunk Fox is a pervert.”

Panther took Fox into the elevator and pressed the thirtieth floor button. It was only them in the elevator and in it, the vulpine squeezed a pec. That made the recipient of said squeeze jump and fling the smaller man over his shoulder. Hopefully that would prevent any more touching. He was wrong. “Oh my gosh… you’re ass is amazing!” The small man exclaimed, smacking it. “Do you do squats, bubble butt?”

Instead of answering, the feline just rolled his eyes and walked out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. Down the hall is the apartment, which isn't all that impressive. It’s a one bedroom and one bathroom apartment with decent furniture. Having been a mercenary for a long time, Panther doesn't really need luxury items and is used to living on the bare minimum.

He ended up just growing Fox down onto his couch and crossed his arms. Once again, the vulpine attempted to make a move, but the man swatted his arm away. “No, that’s enough.”

“Playing hard to get; I like that.” The drunk man replied.

“Ooh boy.” Panther huffed. “Maybe if I give him another drink he’ll change a bit?”

From a cabinet, the feline grabbed a bottle of whiskey and poured a shot. As soon as Fox saw it, he took it and drank. For about five minutes, he was being a bit of a pervert, until he suddenly got really, really depressed. He began to cry suddenly. “Dammit.” Panther swore. “Six drink Fox is just depressed.” He sat down next to him. “There, there, it’s okay.”

“I-I-I miss my dad. I miss my mom…”

“Shhh. I know you do.” The feline replied, wrapping an arm around his friend. “Let it all out.”

“And I’m so sorry for being a perv.”

“There are women I know that are worse, trust me.”

“It was still bad.”

“But you’re learning.”

Fox buried his head into his chest and kept crying. It took a bit of effort for the sober man to not laugh. For some reason it’s silly to him that his former enemy is now bawling into his chest. What made it even more entertaining was that the vulpine ended up falling asleep in the middle of crying. Not wanting to wake him, Panther just sat there. He wasn’t sure what to do to kill time until he got a knock on his door. With the security camera feed on his phone, he saw that it’s his neighbor, a hefty husky woman who is also one of his best friends. “You can come in Amelia!” He yelled.

The door opened and the mother stepped in. Upon seeing Fox, she gasped with excitement. “I can’t believe I’m standing in front of Fox McCloud! But what is he doing here?”

“He got really drunk.” Her neighbor replied. “There was no way I was letting him drive like this so I just took him down here.”

“Good idea! My gosh he’s adorable when he’s sleeping! I always see him on TV in his military uniform looking so stoic, but he’s just as cute as my kids.”

Panther looked down at the younger man, who is snoring softly. “He is pretty cute. For a guy. You know, a few minutes ago he was grabbing my body. After I gave him a sixth drink he got really depressed and fell asleep.”

Amelia sat on the other side of Fox and rubbed the back of his head gently. “I wish my little ones would sleep this soundly.”

“How has Fredrick been?” The feline asked.

She shook her head. “Bad. Ever since Nathan left for his business trip he’s been having more and more fits. Thank you for coming in last night, Panther. He gets calm around you.”

“It’s no problem.” He said with a smile.

Fredrick is Amelia’s severely autistic child. He’s young, but it was still very hard to get him under control when he had a freak out. Amelia isn’t strong enough on her own, so Panther usually comes over and restrains him. To help further, he actually took lessons on how to properly restrain an autistic child. "Just remember, Amelia," He said. "Stay calm and be gentle. We don't want to work him up more."

She sighed. "It's so hard to. He's my son, I love and it hurts to see him freak out like that. And when he hit you _I_ freaked out."

"Honestly his punch didn't hurt that much. It was on me though, I got worried I was going to hurt him and I wasn't as cautious as I should've been. And I understand, seeing your child freak out like that is hard. I get where you're coming from. When I was watching Leonidas, it was excruciating to see him melting down, especially since there was nothing I could do about it." He sighed. "Seeing people doing harmful things to themselves is the one of the worst things in this universe. Especially when its your own child."

Amelia reached her hand over to rub her friend's thigh. "Thank you for being so understanding Panther. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Just remember that my door is always open to you. Speaking of which, why'd you come over tonight?"

“Fredrick is asleep and Vincent is playing his video games, so I decided to come over just to get a change in scenery. On top of that I got to meet Fox McCloud!” She looked down at him. “Even if he is passed out drunk.”

“Even in my wildest dreams I never imagined this.” He stated. “He’s like nobody else I know. I just…” He sighed deeply. “I just want to be around him. When he was talking to a girl at the bar I got jealous. I-I think.”

Amelia smirked. “Why? Were you jealous?”

“He was there for me and I guess I didn’t like that he was swayed away so easily. All I want is his attention, more than I’ve wanted anyone else’s.”

“Panther,” The mother said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I think you might be in love with Fox.”

“H-how? It’s only been three days.”

“The heart has a mind of its own. I’m not saying that you’re 100% in love with him, but you should go out with him more often. And each day, write down how you feel about him.”

He paused for a moment. “Okay, I will. Thank you Amelia.”

“My pleasure! Besides, you two would make a hot couple.”

Fire went to the feline’s cheeks. “A-Amelia!”

The woman laughed for a few seconds before deciding to return to her apartment. Before she left, she grabbed her neighbor a blanket and pillow from his bedroom so he could sleep on the couch. Just as he was settling in, Fox’s phone rang. The feline looked over at the ringing smartphone and saw the face of a komodo dragon with a butterfly on his nose. One could only assume that it’s Lucien, so Panther picked it up. “Hello?”

“W-who is this?” The roommate demanded. “Where is Fox?”

“Right here. He’s passed out though.”

“What did you do to him you bâtard?” The komodo exclaimed. “My sister is a detective, she’ll find you!”

“C-Calm down.” The former criminal replied. “Fox visited the bar and got drunk. I didn’t want him driving so I took him down to my apartment to sleep.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry. I-I assumed the worst.”

“It’s alright.”

“Quick question: How many drinks did he have?”

“Five.”

The Venomillian cringed. “Was he a pervert?”

“How did you know that?” The feline asked.

“Five drink Fox is a total pervert.”

Apparently, the vulpine has very distinctive stages of drunkenness. One drink means he’s going to be a little spacy. Two drinks he’s weirdly confident. After three drinks he’s just loud. On the fourth drink he starts singing and dancing. Five drinks is perversion. “Sadly, I have never seen six drink Fox.” Lucien said.

“I have the answer to that!” Panther replied. “He just gets depressed.”

“Zut! I was hoping that he’d be funny!”

“I would’ve liked that too. He started crying about his parents and felt really bad for being a pervert.”

Lucien sighed. “Poor man. He’s been through a lot. Not that I need to tell you that. You’ve been through most of it, even if you were on the opposite side.”

“I have.”

“Honestly, I think you two are going to go a long way together.”

“That’s what my neighbor told me. Do you… do you think if I asked him out on a date, he’d accept?”

The komodo smiled. “Yes. He’d love to go out with you.”

Panther blushed. “Did he say that?”

“No, but Fox is total slut. You’re a good looking man… I think. I don’t know, I never met you.”

“Heh. No, we haven’t. But as for Fox,” He looked down at the small vulpine. “I don’t want to just have sex with him. I want to feel close to him like I am now.”

“Oh. I don’t know about that. Fox is frivolous! I’m worried that he won’t be able to settle down with someone. But, maybe you could keep him interested.”

The feline raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“From what I know, Fox is very adventurous. Once he came out of his bedroom in stockings and a leather harness. I’m pretty sure there is nothing he doesn’t like. Well, minus baby play. I asked him about his kinks and he told me that he hates that.”

“Good. People who do that are just pedos in disguise.”

"Yeah, they're gross. My half sister's ex-boyfriend was into that and word got out." He sucked in a sharp breath. "There was a scandal."

Panther tilted his head. "A scandal? Is your sister popular?"

"She is. Her name is Valerie, but she goes by Zaz on stage."

"That's cool! My sister is one of the first trans women in congress."

Lucien gasped. "Rosa Caroso is your sister?! I thought the name was just a coincidence!"

"Nope, she's my sister. She transitioned when I was working with Star Wolf, so when I came back and saw her, I was a bit confused." He sighed. "I probably wasn't the most understanding person then. I offended her at some point and we didn't talk for awhile. We just started talking now."

"You've got a long road ahead of you Panther. When you worked with Star Wolf, you burned a lot of bridges. I'm sure you know that though."

"Trust me, I do."

"Why did you join them."

"No offense, but I'm not getting into that with you."

"Fine." He huffed, as if he was annoyed. "Well, I should get going. I have work tomorrow and it's late. Goodnight Panther, thanks for taking care of Fox."

"You're welcome Lucien. Goodnight."

"Au revior."

With that, the komodo hung up. Now knowing that his roommate is safe, he dialed another number and the recipient answered immediately. The man on the other end spoke for a moment before Lucien spoke. “He’s safe…” He paused again. “Yes I’m sure I can trust Panther. You know, you can trust me a bit more, I care about him too.” Pause. “He's your son, don't ask me why he blindly trusts people!" One more pause. "Alright, I’ll warn him. Talk to you later James."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last thing, I'm not sure about the legal stuff here, but I am fully aware that Zaz is an actual singer and yes the half sister, Valerie is based off of her. Not the daughter thing, just the character herself. Another thing, drunk Fox is based off of Amy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I don't think I got the order right, but I remember those stages. And thanks for reading. Let me know if you have idea for improvements. I don't take any offense to constructive criticism as long as it is constructive and not just rude.


	4. A Night to Remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, this is a much longer chapter than the other three, there's stuff in it I really felt like shouldn't be separated otherwise they'd be very short chapters. Second thing, if I missed anything small things again, let me know and I am ALWAYS open to constructive criticism. Final thing, thanks for over 100 hits, that's honestly awesome to see. (Even if I'm not sure if y'all are liking it, but this is kinda fun)

Early in the morning at 6:30, Lucien rose out of bed, got dressed into his scrubs immediately and began to cook breakfast. On the speaker he played music Lorde. It helps get him moving in the morning when he really doesn’t want to. But the music stopped suddenly just as he was serving his eggs and sausage. He looked to his phone and saw that he’s getting a call from a person he has labeled as “Papa.” Immediately he picked up his phone and spoke. 

“It’s too early for this.” He paused for the other man to speak. “No he isn’t home yet.” Pause. “No, I don’t know if the two hooked up!” Pause again. “Dammit James, if you’re so concerned for your son then just come back here!” After the pause, Lucien sighed. “I-I’m sorry James I didn’t mean to say that. It’s early and I haven’t had breakfast yet.” Pause. “Okay, I’ll call him.”

  
James was the first to hang up, making the komodo sigh as he called Fox.

At Panther’s apartment downtown Corneria City, the feline slowly stirred awake to the sound of buzzing next to him. Once again, an image of Lucien appeared with a butterfly on his nose. After stretching, Panther picked up the phone and spoke in his groggy morning voice. “Hello?” He greeted, sounding as if he was speaking through a tuba. 

Lucien’s eyes widened at how deep the man’s morning voice was. “I-I’m sorry, this is Fox’s phone right?”   
  
“Yes and this is Panther.” 

The komodo blushed. After a second, he slapped himself loud enough for the man on the other end to hear, making him tilt his head. “Everything okay?”

"Yeah I’m fine I was just reminding myself that I’m asexual. Wow you have a deep voice.”

“I get that a lot.” Panther replied, chuckling. “So, what’s going on Lucien?”

“Just wanted to check in on Fox before I go to work. Can he get himself home?”   
  
“Not sure, let me wake him up.”

The feline put down the phone and gently nudged Fox. The motion caused no activity in the vulpine, so he lightly pushed his head. Still nothing. Finally, Panther tugged him by the ear, which woke him. “O-ow!” He exclaimed. “What in the…” Fox looked up at Panther. “Oh, hi Panther.”

He giggled. “Hello Fox. Did you sleep well?”

“I did, but my head is killing me.” The vulpine burped. “Uh oh.”

Knowing what was coming, the larger man quickly picked up his friend and rushed him to the bathroom. There, he rubbed the ill man’s back as he threw up into the toilet. For that entire time Lucien stood in his kitchen with his phone to his ear and attempted to listen as to what was going on. With how drunk Fox was, he had an idea. 

After about five minutes, his roommate came back to his phone and spoke. “Hey Lucien, what’s up?”

“What’s up is that I’m going to work and I wanted to make sure you’re safe and sound. Can you even make it home on your own?”

“No way in hell.” He immediately answered. 

“Crétin.” Lucien groaned. “Turn me back over to Panther.”

Fox handed the phone to the feline. “What’s up?” He asked.

“Make sure Fox doesn’t hurt himself. I’m trusting you with him today. Will that be alright?”

“Of course! I have a few errands to do, but I’m sure we can do them together.”

“Thank you so much. Au revoir, mon ami.”

“Goodbye Lucien.”

The komodo hung up first and let out a deep sigh. Once he was sure his roommate was safe, he contacted James again and told him that he’s safe. With that, he left for work. 

Meanwhile, the two former enemies sat in the apartment watching TV. Fox had stopped throwing up at that point and Panther made coffee to help him with his hangover. On the TV, they’re watching the election polls. It’s a close race, worrying the two. “You should endorse her!” Panther exclaimed. 

“I should!” Fox replied.

He went back to watching the TV. For about five minutes everything was fine until Fox gasped suddenly. It scared the daylights out of the feline. “W-what’s wrong?!”   
  
“The banquet!” He exclaimed. “Oh my god I have the banquet to go to!”

“What banquet?”   
  
“The one Hedy is hosting! I-I need to get a suit and I need to get myself ready…”

The vulpine spiraled quickly. He attempted to try and remember where he parked his car, and did, but almost immediately got a call from the DMV about how his vehicle was towed for being in the parking spot for too long. “No, no, no!” He yelled. “I’m Fox McCloud, can’t you make an exception?”   
  
“Sure you are. Do you know how many times people have told me that?

The vulpine paused. “More often than I think?”

“Almost every day” The tired woman answered. “You can pay at the city DMV to get your car back. Goodbye.”

Before he could ask more questions, she hung up. Fox threw his phone across the room, but Panther caught it while it soared over his head. “Alright,” He said. “You’re going to calm down and I’m getting you to that banquet.”

“W-what?”   
  
“I’m getting you to the banquet.” The feline repeated. “I’ll drive you back to your place so you can get dressed and I’ll take you.”

“Oh… thank you.”

Slowly, Fox stepped up to the larger man, who tilted his head in confusion. When he was close enough, the vulpine wrapped his arms around Panther and buried his face into his chest. “You’re so awesome.”

He giggled warmly. “Thank you. Now, we have no time to waste!” With no warning, he picked Fox up again. “I’m getting you to that banquet!”

-Later in the day, 5:00 PM-

Panther pulled up to the banquet venue in his sport’s car. It’s one he got with some of his remaining mercenary money, so he never had to buy it on his regular salary, which would never be able to pay for a car like his and his apartment. 

He parked in a spot close to the entrance. In the back, Fox checked himself in the rear view mirror. Before they left, Panther made sure that the tuxedo was completely clean and tied the bowtie for the vulpine. In comparison, the feline put on a navy blue trench coat with black khakis. Just as Fox was about to leave, he spoke. “Hey, how about you come with me?”

Panther raised his eyebrows. “What?”   
  
“Come with me! It’ll be fun!”   
  
“But I’m not on the list.”   
  
The vulpine reached forwards, resting a hand on his shoulder. “As long as you’re with me, you’re on the list.”   
  
“Oh… I-I’m still not sure if I’m ready for this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I don’t think I’m ready to be mingling with people like that. I’m still not the most popular person, Fox.”   
  
“Then we’ll show them how great you are!” Fox stepped out of the car and opened Panther’s door. “Come on!”

Very reluctantly, the feline stepped out of the car and followed Fox. Many members of the press were there, making him lower his head. Yet the vulpine seemed ever joyous, towing the tall man behind him. When they got to the entrance, the guards attempted to prevent Panther from entering, but after some assurance from Fox and a pat down, he was allowed in.

The venue was huge. On each side of the square building in the front corners are two large bars. However, the bartenders behind them don’t perform fun tricks. Then the rest of the building, aside from the stage and dance floor in front of it, was all round tables with eight chairs at each. And the table him and Fox are seated is the same one Hedy was going to be at. In fact, the beautiful deer woman, wearing a thick green, fuzzy pant suit was standing there now talking to Generals Pepper and Peppy. Fox gasped upon seeing Peppy. Panther, however, was much less excited, but still followed the vulpine to the table.

When he got to the table, the three of them greeted the hero with hugs and handshakes. To his surprise, Hedy hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. “I’m so happy to have you here.” She said. “And I see you brought a friend! Who are you?”

The feline lowered his head. “My name’s Panther…”

“Wait,” Peppy said. “No it can’t be… Caroso?”

He nodded. 

Before things got out of hand, Fox stepped in front of the feline. “He’s with me! I invited him because he drove me here and took care of me last night!”

“Well… he isn’t a convicted criminal.” Hedy said. “I’m happy to have you Mr. Caroso.”

The deer stepped right up to him and shook his hand, even when she had to reach for it. He was shocked that he was welcomed so openly. Even Pepper shook his hand. Peppy, however, was much more reluctant and only nodded. The group then sat down, with Hedy insisting she sit next to Panther, who sat between her and Fox. “So how did you two meet?” She asked.

“In a grocery store.” The vulpine answered. “I was looking at dragon fruit.”

“Isn’t that spectacular? I think you two were meant to meet.” She got a weird dreamy look in her eyes. “You two are going to be great together!"

“Huh?!” They both exclaimed.

“Hedy what are you talking about?” Peppy asked.

“Sorry, sorry,” She apologized. “I’m such a matchmaker. And I know a good match when I see one!” Dramatically, she pointed at them. “You two would be perfect together!”

Both of them blushed madly and looked at one another. Fox was the first to break eye contact with a soft giggle. Panther did the same. “We’re just friends.” He said. 

“Not by the time I’m done with you two.” Hedy replied. “Who do you think got James and Vixy together?”

Fox’s jaw dropped. “That was you?!”

“You bet! I’m the reason you’re even alive Foxwell. And by the end of this night, I’ll have you two making out under the moonlight!”

Peppy facepalmed himself and Pepper chuckled from amusement. Many people wouldn’t think that the presidential hopeful was a matchmaker, but it’s what she loves. Because of that, the two knew that Hedy was going to do everything in her power to get them together. Thankfully, she was caught up by some other representatives and senators, relieving the two from her matchmaking obsession. Just before they could talk, the big band on stage began to play some music. If Panther wasn’t mistaken, he could swear the song was  _ Sing Sing Sing _ . When the swing music kicked in, he just wanted to dance. “Come on Fox,” He said. “If I’m going to get dragged here I can at least dance!”

“Okay!” The excited vulpine exclaimed.

Taking each other by the hand, the two walked out onto the dance floor where many other couples joined them. Immediately, Fox was caught off guard at how good the feline was at swing dancing. He took him by the hip and hand, and began to spin him whilst bouncing lightly. “Wow you’re good at this!” Fox complimented.

“My mother used to make me dance.” He replied. “I still got it!”

Without so much as a warning, the feline picked Fox up by the sides and threw him into the air. After spinning once, he caught the vulpine and held his hand and hip. From there, the novice dancer attempted to keep up with his much more experienced partner, but found it difficult. For most of the five minute dance, Panther was the one taking lead. And just when he thought it was over, the band began to play  _ In the Mood _ . Immediately Fox knew he was in for another round.

Meanwhile, Hedy watched whilst dancing with Peppy. She had a sly smirk on her face. “I may end up not having to do a lot.” She stated. “Look at them, they’re practically in love.”

“This seems a little below you, Hedy.” Peppy commented. “Besides, they shouldn’t even be talking. Panther isn’t trustworthy.”

“But that’s what makes it the perfect love story! A big strong renegade trying to start a new life with a heroic vulpine is perfect!”

The general sighed. “You’d think that someone so obsessed with love would have a partner of their own.”

“That’s why I love matching people. Besides look at them,” 

The two watched the other two dance more, with Fox sticking close to Panther’s body and staring up into his eyes. It made the deer giggle. “I keep telling you, I think they’d make a great couple.”

“Fox should be with a woman.” He said. “He needs to carry on the McCloud name.”

Hedy glared. “And you need to mind your own business. McCloud is just a name, there will be other great heroes like that student Fox keeps bragging about. Plus, when I’m president, I’ll allow all same sex couples to adopt.”   
  
“Not so sure if I agree with that.”   
  
“Then why do you support me?”   
  
“Because the other guy is a moron! I’m an actual republican, not whatever kind of fascist he is!”   
  
She smiled. “This is why you’re one of the few republicans I actually like. Now shut up and dance with me.”

Hedy spun Peppy around and looked to the stage, where the band was getting ready to change the song, but the singer didn’t show up. It was silent for a while before Fox suddenly ran up to the stage and spoke into the mic. “I’m singing this. Come on, what are we singing?”

“Fly Me to the Moon.” The band conductor answered. 

“Oh perfect, I got this.”

Once Fox was ready, the conductor turned back to the band and directed them to begin the song. The drums started softly and a few seconds afterwards, the vulpine began to sing. While his voice was a bit higher than Frank Sinantra’s, he matched the tone and smooth voice. On the dance floor, Panther stood by himself and watched the performance. 

To keep him company, Hedy abandoned Peppy and headed over to the feline. She pulled him into a dance, making him jump. “Hello again Mr. Caroso.” The deer greeted. “Sorry if I broke your trance.”

“I-It’s fine Ms. Sappho.” He replied. “I’m honored, actually.”

“Why? I’m not president yet. Either way, I’m here to talk to you about Fox. You clearly like him.”

“I…” He sighed. “I don’t know. We spent the night together yesterday. N-not in a sexual way, he just got drunk and passed out in my apartment.”

“And how did you feel then?”   
  
“I’m not sure if I’m comfortable sharing this with you.” He said. “I like you, but really, I barely know you.”

“Bah!” She exclaimed. “I’m going to be president, you should trust me with this. Besides, I’m good at keeping secrets. I have to be.”

He chuckled nervously. “In that case… I guess I felt happy. Before him, I was in a relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Krystal. When he was sleeping against me, he reminded me of her, but so much more confident and secure.”

“Hmm… Would you do it again?”   
  
Panther gazed up at Fox, who was singing his heart out beautifully. “I would.” He immediately answered. “Thank you Mrs. Sappho, you’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“When he’s done talk to him about how you feel.”

The feline nodded and continued his dance with the nominee. He ended up having to dance with her two more times, as Fox also sang  _ Beyond the Sea  _ and  _ Rum and Coca Cola _ . The last song was sung with three beautiful golden retriever women who posed with Fox afterwards. Once he was done taking photos, the vulpine returned to Panther. “I saw you dancing with Hedy!” He exclaimed. “Are you trying to be the first First Gentleman?”

The taller man chuckled. “No, not at all. Actually… I was wondering if we could talk.”   
  
“Oh... Okay, but isn’t it a little noisy here?”   
  
Panther turned to the doors leading to the garden outside. “Let’s go outside.”

This time, the feline led and Fox lagged behind. They pushed through the crowds of people until they made it to the doors. Once out, a guard followed behind them, not trusting Panther to be alone with the hero. 

The garden had multiple hedges and trees, all surrounding a very large weeping willow with a small pond surrounding it. Swimming in them were the same large goldfish found in the lobby of the Empire Rooftop Bar. So when they sat down on the ledge, Fox once again let the fish nibble on his fingers as Panther took a deep breath in and out. Seeing that he’s nervous, the vulpine placed his free hand on his friend’s thigh. “You can tell me anything, Panther.” He said. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“O-of course!” The feline replied, flustered. “I just… this is very important to me. Just promise me we won’t stop talking because of the way I feel?”   
  
“Panther I’d never. Promise.”

He breathed deeply. “Okay… Fox, I think I like you. Like, really like you.”

Fox rubbed his friend’s thigh softly. “Alright.”

“And I just wanted to let you know, even though it’s only been a few days, I feel this way about you. W-well I think I do, at least.”

“If you weren’t certain then why are you telling me this?” 

“Because the way I feel for you is the same way I felt for Krystal. It’s because of that feeling I know I have feelings for you. Even if they do confuse me.”   
  
With a soft smile, the vulpine scooted closer. Panther waited for him to say something, but nothing came, so they just sat close to one another with the tiny sounds of fish nibbling on the tan furred fingers. Finally, the larger man said something. “Are you going to say anything?”   
  
“Hmm… no.” He replied. “Just keep on talking and telling me how you feel.”

“Why?”   
  
“Because I want to know. I get that you like me, but I want to know why.”   
  
Panther sighed. “For one, you’re the reason why I was able to start a new life. Then there’s the fact that you went out to dinner with me the day we met again. If you weren’t there for when I saw Leonidas again, I don’t think I would’ve been so calm. And even when you were touchy with me, I enjoyed it when you curled into my chest and slept.”   
  
Fox leaned over and did just as he did the previous night, laying his head on the feline’s chest and rubbing his thigh softly. “Like this?”   
  
“Y-Yeah.” He replied. “Just like this.”

For about five minutes, the two sat there holding one another whilst listening to the soft music playing inside that breached the walls. Then the rain began to fall just as a soft jazz song began to play. The tree protected them from the rain for a moment. And during it, both of them closed their eyes and listened to the classically trained voice inside. 

_ “Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air _

_ I know I can count on you _

_ Sometimes I feel like saying ‘Lord I just don't care’ _

_ But you've got the love I need to see me through” _

_ “Sometimes it seems that the going is just too rough _

_ And things go wrong no matter what I do _

_ Now and then it seems that life is just too much _

_ But you've got the love I need to see me through” _

_ “When food is gone you are my daily meal _

_ When friends are gone I know my savior's love is real _

_ You know it's is real” _

_ “You got the love _

_ You got the love _

_ You got the love _

_ You got the love _

_ You got the love _

_ You got the love” _

Slowly, Fox reached his hand up from the pond and rested it on Panther’s chin and waved his thumb over his cheek. The larger man above him looked down at the younger vulpine, whose emerald eyes glistened in the moonlight that shined over the building. “Hey,” He said softly.

Panther chuckled. “Hey.”   
  
“It’s a nice song, huh?”   
  
Once again, he chuckled. “Yeah, it is. It would be better if you were the one singing it.”   


“It was nothing.” Fox humbly replied. “My mom taught me to sing before she… you know.” He paused. “Kitty, what were your parents like?”   
  
“My parents?” He asked.

“I want to know. If something happens between us,” The vulpine rubbed his cheek again. “Would they be okay with it?”

He paused. “Well… my dad is dead. He died of cancer while I was gone. My mom is still pissed at me because I wasn't there for my dad, so we don’t even talk.”

“Oh. I’m sorry hon.”   
  
“She told me that he was asking for me when he was dying. The whole family gathered except for me.” He began to tear up. “I still feel awful.”

“Kitty…”

Fox picked himself up and hugged his partner from the side as he cried over his head. Slowly, the roles reversed and the feline ended up resting his head on the lap of the vulpine. In return, the smaller man petted the top of his head as he cried. That’s when the tree’s branches could no longer protect them from the rain and a large drop fell on Panther’s nose. It made his eyes widen and shortly after, he giggled. Then the rain began to pour, sending the two inside laughing.

Standing at the door ready for them was the guard who had silently watched everything. As they passed, the puma woman lowered her glasses and winked at them. 

Once inside, the two sat at the bar and both got a rum and coca cola. “Are you alright?” Fox asked.

“Yeah, I’m better now. Maybe I could go visit him, but…” He sighed. “I’d have to get someone to come with me, I can’t go alone.”   
  
“I’ll come.” 

Panther’s ears raised. “R-Really?”   


“Of course. I promise I’ll come. Do you want to go now?”

“Well, the graveyard is close.”   


“Then we’ll go!”   
  
Fox picked up his glass and downed it, impressing his friend and the bartender. Just as he got up to leave, he remembered something fairly important. “I HAVE TO ENDORSE HEDY!”   


Just as quickly as he finished his drink he ran up to the stage where Peppy had just finished giving a speech. It wasn’t Fox’s time yet, but he got up to the microphone before Pepper did and spoke. “H-Hey everyone, I just wanted to say a few things before I go!” He took a deep breath. “Okay, so, as many of you know, I am bisexual. When I was outed by that nosy reporter things were a mess. I really felt like things were falling apart around me, my dad died, we were running out of jobs and now I had people sending me threatening emails. But then… I got a call.” He looked over to Hedy. “Hedy called me. She’s practically an aunt to me, really. She knew my dad for a long time and I think she baby-sat me before she got into her work. So when she called, it really was like this great thing. She’s always been compassionate, but she’s also incredibly smart! I could not be happier to say I fully support Hedy Sappho for president of Corneria!”   


The crowd applauded Fox as he walked off the stage. On the way off, Hedy hugged him tightly. “Thank you so much!” She exclaimed. 

“No problem Hedy.” He replied. “But I do have to go. Panther and I had a bit of a heart-to-heart and we’re going to visit his father’s grave.”   


“Oh okay! Did he tell you that he likes you?”

Fox widened his eyes. “How did you know that?”   


“He told me. And I told him to be honest with you. So, how did it go?”

The vulpine sighed. “You really are a hopeless romantic.”   
  
“Yes I am, now tell me how it went!”

“Well… Panther’s really sweet and I like him a lot, but… I don’t know. It just feels so sudden.”

“Well take your time then. Go out with him maybe and then see how you feel.”   
  
He nodded. “Alright Hedy, see you soon.”   


With a hug goodbye, Fox was off. He met up with Panther at the door, who now had an umbrella that he got from a worker. Just as they were about to leave, a woman tapped on the vulpine’s shoulder. He turned around and saw the chest of a woman. “Up here.” The woman giggled.

Above him was the face of a lioness with long ginger hair. Her face has a strange mix of youth and age to it, with strong jaws and cheekbones, but also had no wrinkles aside from the ones around her eyes. Said green eyes reflected in Fox’s. “I just wanted to say hello to you.” She said. “I’m Florence Welch.”

“L-Like Florence and The Machine?” He asked, stunned.

“That’s me. I was singing earlier, but I didn’t see you out in the crowd.”

“We heard you!” Panther said quickly. “It was really nice!”

“Thank you. But I’m not going to hold you two up. Have a nice night and thanks for coming.”   


“My pleasure! It was such an honor to meet you.”   
  
She giggled. “You too. Here,” Florence removed a bracelet with four individual silver lines and pink metal triangles on each end. “Something to say thanks for protecting Lylat from Andross.”

“Just doing my job.” He said nervously.

“And you did it perfectly.”   


Before the two left, the singer leaned down and kissed Fox on the forehead and then did the same to Panther. After she disappeared into the crowd of Lylatians, the two left. The only thing they talked about was why Florence Welch would be at the banquet? Perhaps she’s just a big supporter of Hedy.

Regardless, the two got back into Panther’s car. Once in, he typed in the address of the cemetery his father was buried. The place was ten minutes away, so Fox turned on the radio, tuning into the usual jazz channel. A group called the Kovacs was playing as they drove. The radio hosts were playing their entire album, so the husky voice of the lead singer marinated them the entire drive. 

Once they pulled up to the cemetery, Panther stopped at the reception desk to get the location of his dad’s grave. They actually passed it, as it was placed right at the entrance. It made the feline chuckle. “He worked as a greeter at one of those big stores. I guess it was only appropriate.”

Instead of driving, the two walked in the rain to the grave. Fox held onto his partner’s hand as they approached the small grave. On it, the name, dates and quote were placed. “Lorenzo Caroso.” Fox read aloud. He then looked at the quote. “‘I smell chocolate.’ … What does that mean?”

Panther laughed. “Whenever there was chocolate in the house, he’d always know. We could try to hide it, but he’d smell it out. And each time he would yell, ‘I smell chocolate!’” He sighed as he reached into his pocket. From it, he pulled out a fun-sized chocolate bar. “Here you go Papa, our favorite.”   


He placed the chocolate bar at the base of the marble grave and stood there silently. After a few seconds, he began to cry again. The tears were silent when they fell they mixed in with the rain and mixed into the ground. This time, Fox didn’t say anything and just let Panther let out all of his feelings.

It took five minutes that time. And once he was done crying, he still didn’t want to let go. “Come on Panthy,” Fox said. “We should go. It’s late and we’re going to catch a cold.”

The feline chuckled. “Yeah… Thank you for being here, Fox. I couldn’t have done this without you.”   


“It’s what friends are for.” He replied.

“Friends… that’s what we are, right?”   


“I don’t know.” Fox admitted. “I just don’t want to move things too fast. And you have to understand how much of a change this would be for me. I’m not used to dedication.”

“I understand. You like your one-night stands.”

“Honestly, I’ve been having them less.” He looked at the grave. “As much as I think we should address this, I’d like to not do it on your dad’s grave.”   


Panther laughed. “Fair enough. Come on, I’ll take you back to your place.”

Hand in hand, the two walked back to the car and began to long drive to Fox’s house. Inside the house, Lucien was pacing around on the phone. “I-I don’t know where he is this time! I thought he’d be back by the time I was done with work!” He exclaimed, followed by a pause. “No don’t you dare come back! You’re so close! I’ll go out and find him, it’s what you assigned me to do.”

The komodo walked into his bedroom and into his closet. From there, he pulled out a small derringer pistol that has two barrels stacked on top of one another. Along with it, he grabbed two dozen explosive tipped rounds. “I’m going out for him.” He said to the person on the phone. “Yes I am armed! I never go out on a job without Matilda.”

Just as he said that and headed for the front door, it opened and Fox stepped in with Panther, who were both laughing at something. They stared at the armed komodo, who managed to hide his pistol behind his back. However, his phone was still up to his ear. Quickly, he came up with an excuse. “Hey sweetie, I have to go.” Immediately, he put the phone down and marched up to Fox. “Where in Lylat have you been?! Do you know how worried I was?”   


His roommate ignored the questions. “Who were you talking to?”

“N-No one.”

“You called them sweetie.” Panther stated. 

“Are you seeing someone?” The vulpine asked with excitement.

“Of course not! I’m asexual.”   


“That doesn't mean you can’t fall in love! Come on, who are they?”   


“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said, turning his head and crossing his arms.

Both of them began to ask the komodo a long line of questioning, only to be ignored by him. Instead he sat down on the couch and turned on the news. Already there were reports of Fox and Panther going to the banquet together. “So that’s where you were!” He exclaimed. “And you two went together. How’d that go?”   


“Better than you think.” The vulpine answered, leaning against his partner. “Panthy and I got a lot closer tonight.”

The komodo’s eyes widened. “Really? How close are we talking here?”   


“I don’t know.” Panther said. “You said this would be a big change for you.”

“It would be, but…” He moved his body closer to the other man. “I think I’d be willing to make a change for you.”

With the vulpine close to him, the larger man wrapped an arm around his shoulders and actually went to kiss his forehead. Once he did, Fox looked up. “Do you want to go out on a date sometime?” He asked.

Panther smiled. “I’d like that. But do I have to go back to my place tonight? I don’t feel like driving more.”   
  
“Smooth.” The vulpine replied. “And no, I’d like you to stay.”

“Perfect.”   


Lucien smiled from the side and turned back to the TV. He ended up changing the channel to one of his favorite soap operas. It’s all in Venomillian, so the two men couldn’t quite understand. So, they decided to go to bed. The problem was that Panther had no pajamas. “You can sleep in your underwear.” Fox suggested.

“And I’m sure that would be much to your delight.” He replied, smirking.

“Maybe.” The vulpine said slowly.

The larger man sighed. “Fine, just for you.”

With that Panther took off everything aside from his underwear while Fox changed into something the feline wasn’t expecting. He ended up wearing very short shorts with white stockings and a loose half top with thin strings over his shoulders. It made the larger man blush as the smaller one looked his body up and down before resting on the ‘prize.’ “I think we made a mistake.” Fox said with a shaky breath.

“W-what do you mean?” Panther asked, worried.

“We shouldn’t have gotten so stripped down.” He walked over to his partner and placed his hands on the large chest. “Because there is no way I’m letting you leave this room without fucking me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, legal stuff I have to do (I think, but I'm not taking any risks) The song was "You've Got the Love" by the actual Florence + The Machine. "Fly Me To The Moon" was by Frank Sinantra, "Rum and Coca Cola" was by the Andrew Sisters, "In The Mood" was by Glenn Miller and "Sing Sing Sing" was by Benny Goodman.   
> So, quick thing about Hedy. I based Hedy off of the real-life Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr. She's one of my favorite, most underappreciated figures in history. While she was known for her acting and beauty, in her spare time, she was an inventor. This wasn't known at the time, but it was her that invented Blue Tooth technology for US submarines during WW2 and is often referred to as the "Mother of Wifi." When she was alive, she was known as the most beautiful woman on Earth. However, he inventions went underappreciated as her patent on the Blue Tooth technology expired without her knowing and was quickly stolen. If she had been told to renew the patent, she would've made over 30 billion dollars off of it.


	5. The Day After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have just been able to roll these chapters out I'm telling ya. Things are coming to my head and I'm just rolling with it. On top of that, I just finished with my finals and all my teachers have been doing is taking attendance and telling us to have a good break. So I've had so much time just to write. Also, no way in hell am I writing a Lemon. I fell that sex is a very intimate and personal thing that'd I'd rather not describe. (If anyone wants write one though, you have my permission, not that you need it, to write one! Just make sure it has proper punctuation and grammar. It's a turn-off otherwise)

The next morning, Lucien awoke in his bed and checked the time. Despite the fact he didn’t have work, he still woke up early. On top of that, he went to bed late, on account that he couldn’t drown out the sounds from his roommate’s room. From one to two in the morning the new lovers went at it very loudly and prevented him from sleeping. He was too polite to even stop them or tell them to quiet down. As a result, he had a total of only four hours of sleep. Coffee was going to be needed.

The tired komodo rolled out of bed only wearing some sweatpants. At an initial look, most wouldn’t think he’s all that fit, but under the garbs and big hoodies he wears, he has the toned body of an athlete. Out in the kitchen, he brewed a batch of black coffee and cooked a large breakfast for all three of them. Homemade Venomillian Toast with fruits and store bought croissants were on the table that morning.

For an hour he lounged around watching the news. There were more reports about Fox and his relationship with Panther, but also talked about the endorsement he gave to Hedy. Just as the news anchors were talking about that, the new couple walked out of the bedroom, but the feline had to carry his smaller partner. “Lucien I need ibu…” Fox groaned.

“Get it yourself.” He grumpily replied.

The vulpine whispered to his carrier. “Lucien’s really moody in the morning. Talking to him before noon is like talking to a mean girl.”

“Shut it, bottom.” The komodo said.

“See!” Fox exclaimed. “He's so mean!”

“I thought it was kind of funny.” Panther stated.

“And what the hell happened to taking it slow?” The komodo demanded. “You were all hesitant yesterday but that didn’t stop him from fucking you!”

“This is worse than normal.” The vulpine whispered. “Lucien, how much sleep did you get?”

“Four hours because you two were going at it! I would’ve gone to bed sooner but you didn’t get back home until eleven at night!”

“Yep that would do it.” The roommate mumbled. “Just avoid him.”

Panther nodded and Lucien mumbled some expletives in Venomillian. “Va te faire foutre.”

Upon seeing the food, the two dug in, not even thanking the komodo. It took a loud cough from him to get their attention. “Uh… thank you Lucien.” Panther said.

“Whatever.” He replied.

The feline looked the komodo up and down. “I didn’t think he was all that hot, but damn.”

“I know right?!” Fox exclaimed. “He has a nice body!”

“I’m putting a shirt on.” Lucien said, getting up and going to his room.

The roommate came back out wearing a Florence + The Machine t-shirt. It had flower lungs on it with the word “LUNGS” over it. Upon seeing it, Fox gasped. “We met Florence last night!”

“What?” The fan asked.

“She sang last night and she gave me her bracelet!” Fox ran to his room to grab the piece of jewelry. “Here!”

He gasped. “I saw this in one of her photos!” His gaze shifted to Fox. “AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME YOU MET HER?!"

“Oh no.”

A long, Venomillian filled spout came from Lucien. Whatever he said wasn’t understood, but the vulpine still felt guilty and his feelings were hurt. He finished it by saying, “Espèce de garage à bites!

Once the spout was over, he stormed off to his room and they could hear Florence’s song, Kiss With A Fist, blasting from the room, followed by him screaming into a pillow. After that, Fox used the bathroom, but found it extremely painful. He came out holding his junk and leaning over. “Something’s wrong.” He groaned. “That hurt so bad!”

“What hurt?” Lucien asked, coming out of the room as his nurse senses kicked in. “Did you have intense burning pain while urinating?”

“I did.” Fox admitted.

“Merde. Okay, I’m taking you both to the hospital. If this is what I think it is,” He smirked. “I’m going to enjoy it.”

Once the two got dressed, Lucien took them to the hospital, where he screened them for STDs. And he was right, both of them have chlamydia. Fox had it for two weeks, apparently, and was asymptomatic until the morning. And Panther got it from the vulpine the previous night. Thankfully for them, chlamydia's easily curable, but it will still take around fourteen days. But until then, things like urination and sex would be extremely painful. “Come on!” Fox groaned. “Can we lessen the pain?”

“No.” The doctor, an owl woman, answered. “This is on you two. You didn’t use a condom and you haven’t gotten tested before, despite the fact you have had numerous affairs, Mr. McCloud.”

From the side, Lucien glared. "Thank god it's only Chlamydia! Do you know how bad this could've been if it was AIDS?! You would've infected Panther, Fox!"

The vulpine lowered his head. "I know... I'm really sorry Panther."

"Well, I don't feel anything yet, so hopefully we can get it out of my system before I feel the burn." He smiled softly. "I know if you had known you wouldn't have had sex with me. I'm not angry."

"Yet I can't help but think there's a lesson to be learned here, Fox." The nurse said. "Wear a condom, and stop having so much sex with near strangers! Now isn't that an idea?"

"I get it Lucien, I really do."

The roommate sighed. "Fine. Next time I catch you having sex with a stranger, I'm throwing them out."

Fox sighed. After paying for the visit, the three of them went back home. Almost as soon as they got back, the vulpine had to use the bathroom. During it, he screamed loudly, making his roommate giggle. Having the vulpine in pain for a while was oddly funny to him, especially since he was the reason he was in such a bad mood. However, as the day went on, he returned to his normal caring self, he tended to his needs as he rested with Panther on the couch together. “So what are the plans for your date?” The komodo asked as he cooked an onion bake for dinner.

“Oh…” Fox stated. “We should talk about that.”

“What do you want to do?” Panther asked.

“I’d like to go to a park. There’s this one called Cherry Tree Lane and it’s full of those pink cherry trees and it has a really popular Venomillian cafe.”

“My parents own it!” Lucien exclaimed. “And my sister performs there sometimes!”

“It’s really good.” The vulpine added. “We should go next week Saturday.”

“Even with Chlamydia?” The feline asked.

“I think we’ll be fine. Let’s just not have sex again. Speaking of which, we didn’t talk about it, you fell asleep right away.”

“Gee I wonder why.” Fox’s roommate grumbled. “Maybe it’s because you kept on asking him to go harder on your trou du cul.”

“Does that mean asshole?” He asked.

“Oui.”

“Oh I got it!” He excitedly exclaimed. “Wait… you called me that so many times!”

Lucien stuck his nose up and turned back to cooking dinner. Just as it was about to be finished, Panther got a call. It was his neighbor Amelia, who was asking for help with her son. Without so much as saying goodbye, he sprung up from the couch and ran to his car, leaving the two roommates very confused. “I guess he had someone to go.” The komodo said.

“Sure seems like it.” Fox replied. “I’ll call him later.”

For a while, the two sat on the couch eating dinner. It wasn’t until an hour later the vulpine decided to call his partner.

In the apartment across from Panther’s, the feline sat on the couch with the young ten-year-old husky in his arms. He was hugging him tight as he flung his arms all over. Only his forearms and legs could move, so there was no other threat unless someone walked by. For his age, the boy was shockingly strong, mainly because he registers physical sensations like exhaustion, pain, cold and heat less than an average person. And with his sharp claws he got a good swipe at Panther’s cheek.

Yet he continued to hold the child tight and kept his breathing steady. After about ten minutes of holding him, Frederick finally calmed down. Once he was calm, he rubbed the top of his head and whispered calming words to him. After about five more minutes, his brother came and brought him to his bedroom where he laid down from exhaustion.

After taking a breath for himself, Panther got up and headed towards Amelia’s room where the woman sat on the side of her bed crying. He sat down next to her and hugged around her shoulders. “I-I’m so sorry.” She apologized. “When I saw him cut your cheek I freaked out.”

“You were doing better than most times, though.” He replied. “You managed to look like you were calm and you were able to hold him until I got here.”

“Still… you’re not always going to be here.”

“That’s true. What you need to do is get Frederick into a schedule. It’s good for them to have a routine.”

“What courses do you take?” She asked.

“My sister is a special-ed teacher. The school she works at is close by.”

“We can’t afford to send him to a school.”

“Maybe I can work something out with her. My sister is a really nice woman.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Of course I would. Besides, I have to look good for my new boyfriend.” He said jokingly.

Amelia gasped. “Boyfriend?! Since when?”

“Last night. It’s Fox.”

“Oh my gosh!”

He chuckled. “We went to a banquet together and we had a moment under a weeping willow. I went back to his place and we well…” He smirked. “I’m sure you know what went on.”

“Already? That seems a little early.”

“We were going to take it slow,” He admitted. “But when we were going to bed and we changed into our pajamas, we just couldn’t resist one another.”

“Okay, a little bit high on the drama there, but I would wait longer until you do it again. Nathan and I didn’t have sex until six months into our relationship.”

The feline sighed. “I don’t know if we can restrain ourselves that long.”

“It will be all the more satisfying when you finally do it.” She stated. “I promise it will be well worth the wait.”

Panther’s phone then buzzed. “Speak of the devil.”

He answered the phone quickly when he saw the photo he had set for Fox, yet he didn’t remember setting it to that. It was an image of the two of them lying in bed together with Fox resting his head in the crook of Panther’s neck. “Did I take that last night?” He mumbled to himself as he put the phone to his ear. “What is it Fox?”

“Well you just left so suddenly I was wondering what happened.” He replied.

“Oh! I’m so sorry. Amelia called me to help take care of her son.” He touched his cut cheek. “I got a bit of a cut but it’s no big deal.”

“I need to treat that!” Amelia exclaimed, getting up to go get a first-aid kit.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Fox.” He said honestly. “So… anything else you need?”

“Time and date for our date.” Fox said. “I have to teach still so I’ll be off either Saturday, Sunday or Monday.”

“And I have work on Saturdays… so I guess we’ll go on Sundays?”

“Alright, what time?”

“Eleven?”

“That sounds perfect!” Fox smiled. “It’s a date!”

Panther giggled warmly. “I can’t wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter, which was part of the reason I was able to get it out so quickly and I wanted to give you a break after that really long one. Also, people, wear a condom. STD's suck. I'm not speaking from experience, but a good friend of mine had Chlamydia and he was in agony. And Chlamydia is one of the ones that isn't life-threatening. 
> 
> One last thing, does anyone think there's too much dialogue? I tend to write things like a play and that does involve a lot of dialogue aside from descriptions of places and giving some information. I'm not sure if that's a good thing and I'm looking to improve any way I can.


	6. The Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the break. I've been busy with Christmas stuff and LOTS of baking and cooking. Speaking of Christmas stuff, I've also been working on a Christmas fiction that's totally different from this one. Final note, this chapter was long as hell, so I'm splitting it up into two and adding a side-story chapter between them.

Fox was just finishing up his last class of the week. He was taking some time to talk to some of his struggling students who needed a bit more help. What surprised him was that his star student, the Blue Barron, came up and sat down in front of him. “Hey Mr. McCloud,” He greeted him. “I just wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it?” The teacher asked. 

“You seemed really chipper this week. I was just wondering what’s got you so happy.”

Fox leaned closer. “Okay, because I believe that we’re friends on a personal level, I’m going to tell you what’s going on, but you absolutely cannot not tell anyone else.”

“Alright, but I can’t promise that Kate and Beatrice won’t get something out of me.” He replied.

“Oh you can tell them, I trust them. But…” The vulpine smirked. “You have to tell me your actual name.”

The Barron groaned. “Oh jeez…” He looked up at the ceiling. “My name… is Klaus.”

“Was that so hard?”

“I used to get bullied for it.”

Fox tilted his head. “Why?”

“People used to call me Santa-Klaus. It was embarrassing and annoying.”

“Okay so why do you hide your face?”

“Hey!” He exclaimed. “I only agreed to tell you my name, now you pay up.”

“Fine.” The teacher giggled. “I’m going out on a date.”

“Really? With who?” Fox was about to answer, but he held up a finger. “Wait! Let me guess… your roommate!”

“Nope!” He exclaimed. “I’m going out with Panther Caroso.”

“That explains why you went to the banquet with him! Oh it makes so much sense. How long have you two been a thing?”

“Honestly, we’re not really a thing, but that didn’t stop us from having-”

Before he finished, Fox stopped and covered his mouth. It was horribly unprofessional of him even think of saying that. And unfortunately for him, his student knew exactly what he was going to say and started to laugh. At first, the teacher attempted to get him to stop, but it only made him laugh even louder. “Oh man!” He laughed. “That’s too funny. Just for that, I’ll take off my goggles.”

Fox gasped and watched as his masked student slowly took off his goggles. He had some theories of his species based on his black and tan tail, and he was right. Under the goggles was the eyes and temples of a shepherd. However, his eyes were all white with barely noticeable very light gray irises. “Wait Klaus…” Fox said slowly. “Are you blind?”

He nodded. “I am.”

“How do you get around without a stick?”

The Barron lifted his foot onto the desk. At first, all Fox saw was a shoe, but it has no bottom so it’s just his bare feet. His eyes widened as the blind student explained. “I feel vibrations through the ground and when I pilot I just feel sorta connected to the ship. It’s like an extension of my body and for whatever reason I can sense things around me.”

“That’s amazing.” His mentor whispered. “I’m sorry that you’re blind, though.”

“Bah! Don’t be, I was born blind. Now, tell me more about your date.”

After a soft giggle, Fox explained where the two were planning on going and what they’re doing to do. His student listened closely. “Are you nervous?”

“Uh… yeah, I am.”

“Tell me why.”

“Because I’m not used to dedication! I’d have my… meetings and I’d go on with my life. Now Panther is going to be in my life almost constantly.”

“And does that upset you?”

The vulpine froze. Only one person has been in his life constantly and that was Lucien. He barely talked to Falco anymore, Slippy was always busy at Space Dynamics and Peppy hardly has enough time between meetings and officer training. Panther would be another thing in his life, one that would require lots of dedication. And he wasn't sure if he was prepared for that. 

"It'd be different, but I think I'll be happy in the end."

“Sounds like a good change to me. At your rate you were going to get an STD.”

Due to personal boundaries with his students, Fox chose not to tell Klaus he has chlamydia and instead laughed it off nervously. “So do you feel confident?”

Fox’s ears fell. “No, not really.”

“I think I can help with that.” He replied. “I’m going to tell Kate and Beatrice and we’ll give you an earbud that we can use to give you advice during your date.”

“You’d do that for me?” He asked, raising his ears back up.

“Of course! You’re our favorite teacher, after all. Plus we never have anything going on.”

The teacher smiled. “It sounds like a plan to me!”

-Sunday, 11:00 A.M.-

When Friday finally came, Fox was nervous beyond belief. Despite the fact he had already slept with his date, he couldn’t calm his nerves, even when Lucien gave him a small dose of his anxiety medication. The komodo even helped his roommate dress himself. Beatrice also called in to give him some fashion tips.

Keeping it casual, Fox put on a thin black turtleneck and clean, dark blue jeans, along with some brown dress shoes. To give his look a bit of flare, Beatrice advised him to put in earrings if he had any. And he had plenty from his emo years as a teen. In each ear he had six piercings, but only put two silver rings and two silver studs into his right ear and a large black metal hoop in the tip of his left ear. 

In a bush behind the vulpine, who sat on a bench, the three students hid. Klaus had finally taken off his goggles, but kept his scarf wrapped around his neck and mouth. On his right was the perky alligator girl with a blond weave, Kate. And on his left was the tough, leather-clad leopard, Beatrice. The girl looked to her friend and raised an eyebrow. “Wait Blue, are you blind?”

“I am, you’ll have to tell me what’s going on.” He replied. 

“How the hell are you able to fly?!”

“Explain it later!” Kate exclaimed in a whisper. “Panther’s here!”

From the entrance gate came the muscular feline, who put on a maroon cardigan, jeans and black boots. Fox noticed him quickly and felt heat rise to his cheeks. He was frozen on the spot. After all of the times he's seen the feline, one would think he'd feel natural around him. They'd be wrong. To snap him out of his flustered state, Beatrice spoke into the radio. “Sir, when he gets close, just act natural.”

“That’s shit advice.” Kate said, taking the radio away. “Sir, let him make the first move. If he doesn’t, tell him looks handsome.”

Their teacher nodded as Panther stopped in front of him. “I didn’t know you had piercings.” The feline stated. “They look good.”

Beatrice stuck her tongue out at the gator girl, who rolled her eyes. It was the leopard’s idea to have him wear them and Kate was firmly against it. 

“T-Thanks Panthy!” Fox replied, a bit too loudly. “You look really good too!”

“Panthy?” Klaus asked himself. “Really?”

“Shut up.” Beatrice ordered, slugging his shoulder. “Okay, sir, why don’t you catch up a bit with him before you start walking?”

Fox nodded and spoke to his date. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been fine, aside from the fact I’ve been missing you.” He replied, winking. “Speaking of which, I was saving this one for you.”

From the inside of his cardigan, Panther pulled out a thorn less rose and handed it to his partner. The three got nervous immediately. The feline was smooth. Too smooth for their teacher, who was darting his eyes all over. Anxiety was filling his mind and his breathing started to race. Already Panther was noticing, so his students stepped in once again. “Take a deep breath sir.” Klaus advised. “You got this.”

After a calming breath, Fox spoke. “Thank you Panther, it looks just as lovely as you.”

The larger man giggled. “Thank you. Now why don’t we begin our date?”

Like the gentleman he was, Panther took his date by the hand and lifted him up. He took it further by lifting the hand and kissing it. To Fox, now the feline seemed like the man he once knew when he’d hit on Krystal. He wouldn’t admit then, but it was a huge turn-on. 

Thankfully, Panther began the walk and talked freely about fun stories at the bar, like how Florence actually came there and recognized him. She got stupid drunk, according to him, and was singing her songs louder than normal. At one point, she took her top off and threw it at him. “She’s crazy!” He exclaimed. “Everyone sees that elegant woman on stage, but she parties harder than I do! Honestly, people like that are the ones I’m most attracted to.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that people with alternate, crazy personalities are features that I like. And you have one.”

“I do?” Fox asked.

“Of course! When I saw you in those stockings, a thong and a half-top, I was immediately turned on.”

The three students nearly exposed themselves with their laughter. Panther lifted his ears up and looked around to find the source of the snickering, but before he found them, Fox pointed to a cart selling ice pops. Both of them got a stick with different flavors. The vulpine got lime and the feline got cherry. As they were enjoying the popsicles, Kate spoke. “Sir, get his attention and deep throat it!”

Her two friends began to freak and Fox coughed from shock. While he liked to form close friendships with his students, he still believed in personal boundaries, which was what caused him to start coughing. Panther thought he was choking and attempted to help him, but was gently pushed away. “I-I’m fine.” The vulpine stated. “Besides, I never choke.”

The three of the young adults squealed as Fox screamed in his head. Yet he pushed on. “See?”

Without much effort, he slid the entire seven-inch popsicle down his throat and gave it a long lick on the way out. Panther blushed madly in response and began to walk a bit weirdly. He averted his gaze for a while as his date acted as if everything was normal. To Fox’s surprise, he managed to get a smooth line out. “Isn’t that a familiar sight?”

Like last time, and despite the chlamydia, Fox felt the heat. It rose between his legs and up to his cheeks, making his heart race. Did Panther feel it too? He wasn't sure, but judging by the fact he was as red as a rose one could only assume. Despite their aroused state, the two continued on. As they walked, they passed by a very unusual tree. It has the structure of a bleeding dragon tree, but has the cherry blossoms of the other trees. 

“Oh I read about this!” Fox exclaimed. “Some scientists infused the DNA of a bleeding dragon tree with a cherry tree and this was the result!”

“It’s beautiful.” Panther whispered. “Do you want to take a moment under it?”

“Sure!”

Together, the two sat down under the tree and talked idly. Fox talked about Blue a bit, mentioning how he’s blind and still pilots. “And here I thought Wolf was impressive!” Fox exclaimed. “But Klaus beats him out of the park!”

Panther froze. Soon, his hands began to shake. “Whoa Panther, what’s wrong?” The vulpine asked.

“I-I just forgot to mention something.” He said. “Wolf visited me…”

“WHAT?!” The pilot exclaimed. “A-Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“No, not at all. Honestly the visit was… nice.” He sighed. “Wolf told me he started a new life. He reconnected with his twin brother and sister.”

“He has a twin?! Who?”

“You might know him. His name is Otto Rommel. Apparently he had his name changed to distance himself from Wolf.”

“I do know him!” Fox gasped.

Otto Rommel was possibly the most famous and best tank commander the Cornerian armed forces ever had. Not only did he command the largest and most elite heavy tank division, but he also designed the tanks the Cornerian military used. “He designed our land masters!” The vulpine continued. “And he used to work with my dad before he left with Lydia.”

“Who is Lydia?”  
.  
Fox smiled brightly and explained who his old friend was. Lydia was the second most famous pilot, right behind the younger vulpine. She made a name for herself when she worked with James, but left due to heavy disagreements in tactics and the recruitment of Pigma. Otto left with her, deeply upset with the decision to let the soon to be traitor onto the team. During the war, she became known as the “White Rose of Stalliongrad,” for her personal beauty and the way in which she flew her arwing. 

“If only my dad listened to her.” Fox said sadly. “He would still be alive.”

“Do you talk to Lydia?”

“I have to, she’s the principal at the flight academy. We went out to lunch on Wednesday, but it was… tense. She told me that she blamed herself for my dad’s death.”

“Do you?”

He paused. “I… kinda? I don’t know. On one hand, she should’ve stayed around to keep an eye on Pigma, but on the other, she might’ve just died with my dad.”

“And Otto?”

“Otto…” Fox chuckled. “I kinda had to like him, on account we had sex like… three times?”

Panther snorted a laugh. “Oh my god. And how was he?”

“Impressive.” The vulpine smirked at the memories of him and Otto in his tank banging. “He even let me top him during our last time together. It was amazing.” 

Fox leaned back and closed his eyes. One time, in the middle of the night out in a deep forest while the rest of his tank crew was sleeping, the two met up by pure chance and found a cave full of moss. From there, the two went at it until dawn. It was one of the few highlights of the war aside from the time him and Bill took a bomber arwing out for a flight and banged in the cockpit. Perhaps that was why they were called cockpits... 

“Looks like I have a few people to live up to.” The feline said, giggling.

Once again, the three students were dying of laughter and had to move away from Fox and Panther to make sure that they didn’t expose themselves. “So… what is Wolf doing now?” The vulpine asked.

The feline snickered. “Okay, you won’t believe this but…” A smile grew on his face. “Wolf is a priest.”

“WHAT?!”

The larger man laughed as his date had a total freak-out as to why the vicious mercenary became a priest. Apparently, Wolf got into a bad fight that caused him to kill seven men, but in the process, some of his own men, including Leon, were also killed. According to the lupine, an angel came down from above and healed him of his wounds and led him towards the light of God. “Did he visit you in like… full garbs?” Fox asked.

“He did. He came in with his clergy collar. It was so… weird.” Panther answered.

“Does he know about Leonidas?”

“Absolutely not!” The uncle exclaimed. “I will never tell Wolf about his son until Leonidas is ready! No matter how much he apologized.”

“You talked about him?”

He nodded. “He brought him up. As soon as he mentioned his name, he began to sob. I know he feels guilty for what he did to Leonidas, but that doesn’t mean I’m just going to tell him Leonidas is alive.”

“Oh I totally agree! What he did to his own son is unforgivable.”

“Well… that’s not up to us. It’s up to Leo.”

The silence was tense afterwards. Both of them were enjoying the date, but having to worry about a son reuniting with an abusive father turned priest was a quick mood dampener. Noticing this, the students told their teacher to talk about a possible second date. But just as they said that, Fox brought up their shared infection. “So… have you been feeling the Chlamydia?”

“To an extent.” Panther answered. “I feel a burn, but it’s not agonizing like yours was.”

“Lucky.” The vulpine huffed. “It’s sucked for me. It’s clearing up like Lucien promised, but it has been so painful since. At least you’re not suffering.” He sighed. “When I infected you… I felt so awful. I really care about you and if that was AIDS, it would’ve been so much worse.”

“But it wasn’t, Fox. And I know if you knew that you had it, you wouldn’t have gone to bed with me in the first place.” The larger man rested a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “I’m not angry with you. And I never was.”

Immediately, Fox lurched forwards and brought his lips to Panther’s. At first, the feline was surprised, but soon fell into the kiss, holding the back of the other’s head. They held it for ten seconds before separating. After looking at each other in the eyes for a moment, they brought their lips back together.

Quickly, the vulpine climbed on top of the larger man and grinded his hips backwards as the other lifted his hands under Fox’s shirt to rub his back. The two girls lifted their heads from the nearby bushes, but Klaus was very confused by the moaning and sounds of gasps mixed with smacking coming from his phone. “What is going on?” He asked.

“They’re making out.” Beatrice answered.

“Making out?” Kate asked. “Girl, they’re about to have sex!”

“With chlamydia apparently.” Klaus commented.

Just as he said that, the two yelled in pain after attempting to frot one another. All three of them laughed and ducked back into the bushes. First off, hearing their teacher almost have public sex was almost eye-opening to them. And second, seeing their teacher cry out in pain due to chlamydia was something they never thought they’d experience. So when Kate let out a loud snort, they laughed a lot louder too. This time, Panther got up and checked them out.

The feline pulled apart the bushes to see the three students, who very quickly stopped laughing. Despite no longer being a mercenary, his gaze froze the two girls, but Klaus was still confused. “Wait… is Panther standing over us?” He asked, sensing the large man standing over him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be able to sense others or some shit?” Beatrice replied.

“Uh… I can, but I can't tell who is who unless I am familiar with them.”

“Well he is.” Kate answered. 

They looked back up at the large man, who glared down at them with his piercing yellow eyes that were full of scorn. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not sure if I'll get this out before Christmas, I still have a lot of work to do. We're installing new counters as well, so I have a long agenda and this writing doesn't quite fit in. Either way, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas or happy Hanukkah or whatever you celebrate! Tell someone you love them and if you're tired of the same old Christmas music, Sia has a Christmas album and so does Lindsey Stirling. Both are awesome!


	7. Father

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god it has been chaotic. Christmas was great, I had a great time and I hope everyone else did. Christmas eve I came out to my religious Italian nana, who laughed and told me that she's known for years. So that was really nice. I hope everyone else is doing fine and I'm sorry this took me so long, I've been really busy.

Just after finishing his service, the one-eyed lupine priest hung up his fine white cassock in his office. He sat at his desk with a large print of his holy texts. It was an incredibly old copy, one he had to go to an ancient temple on Fortuna to retrieve. While the religion he preaches is one of the most popular ones in Lylat, it was also one of the most misunderstood ones. That was because almost no original scriptures could be found, until he went out with the guidance of his angel, Eistibus. 

As far as he knows, he was the only one that could actually hear and speak to the angels. Many other priests were jealous as a result, even if it was a sin. He was rejected from countless monasteries until he found an old abandoned one on a hill, far away from Corneria City. Now called Holy Hill, the lupine preaches to whoever shows up almost daily and offers shelter for the homeless.

The man sat there for about an hour until he got a knock on his door. “Come in!” He called.

Slowly, the door creaked open and a familiar-looking blue vixen stepped in. She was wearing a tight, dark purple jumpsuit that left some cleavage exposed. And on her back was a golden spear, that probably wasn’t really gold. 

Immediately, the lupine recognized her and widened his eye. “Krystal?” He asked.

“So it is true.” She stated. “You’re a priest?”   


“I am.” 

The woman snickered. “That’s so funny. When I heard you were preaching up on a hill I thought they were doped up.”

“Who is ‘they’?”

“Old friends of ours. Speaking of friends… I heard what happened to Leon.” She frowned. “He was a psychopath, but he always had our backs, didn’t he?”

The wolf nodded. He was feeling incredibly uncomfortable. This was exactly what he was trying to get away from; his past. All he wanted to do was go forth in life with Eistibus guiding him. Yet a relic from his past showed up to see him. He wasn’t sure what she could possibly want. Revenge for something? “What do you want Krystal?” He demanded, closing his book. 

“There’s the Wolf I know.” She said, smirking. “Come on, you’re not that far gone.”

“It’s Woffgang. It always has been.” 

“Knew it. Also, your twin brother is Otto Rommel?”

His eyes widened. “How do you know all of this?”   


“Telepathy.”

“Ah…” The lupine groaned. “How could I forget?”

Krystal giggled as she walked to his desk. She sat herself on the edge of it and glazed her hand over the smooth oak desk. Her hand travelled to Wolf’s shoulder, who was ever unflinching. He did, however, let murmurs of prayers out. That made her giggle again. “You’re ridiculous. Come on, I need your help."

“That didn’t take long.” He replied. “Tell me.”

“There are rumors…” She leaned in, despite no one aside from a few nuns being around the monastery. “Rumors that James McCloud is alive.”   
  
His eye widened once again. “W-what?”

“That’s right. They said he faked his death and kept it a secret from even Fox for a top secret mission. An ex-agent for the L.A.C.E. spilled the information to me.”

Another shock. The mere existence of the L.A.C.E. was a rumor in and of itself. Supposedly, they handle the supernatural activities in Lylat and keep them locked up. L.A.C.E. stood for Lylatian Anomaly Control Executive. The rumors go from them just making sure no spatial anomalies harm Lylat to them containing vampires and other monsters. “And get this,” She continued. “They have someone spying on Fox.”

“Why are you telling me this?” He asked, interrupting her. “Can’t you see that I’m done with getting my hands dirty?”   
  
“Let me finish!” She yelled back. After a huff, she spoke again. “What James is after is apparently related to your angels.” 

An eyebrow raised. “Which one?”

“Sahaqiel… I think. I don’t know, whichever one has a gate and is related to the sky.”   


“You’re right, it’s Sahaqiel.”

“Good, I do remember. Either way, James is after the Gate of Sahaqiel. Something is going on with it and even the guy who I talked to didn’t know what’s up. He just knew that’s what James is after.”

“And let me guess, you want my help to beat him there?”

“There you go."   


Wolf growled. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m done with that life. Leave me alone.”

From her back pocket, Krystal pulled out a blaster and put it under her former leader’s chin. Using some old skills, Wolf kicked his chair back and rolled into a fighting pose. In his left hand, he held his book and in his other, a light blue circle with mysterious symbols formed. Just as he was about to release a blast of Eistibus’ energy, he felt a cold blade rest on the back of his neck. 

Behind him, he saw the crimson eyes of a hooded figure. The amber-yellow irises flashed for a second, rendering him unconscious. With that, Krystal sighed and spoke in an earpiece. “Target secured, let’s bring him to the S.H.O.E.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know, this is some fantasy-mythology stuff, so please, bare with me, I'll explain my nuances in later notes, but just know that this was always my intention. 
> 
> So... LACE... yes that was the best I could come up with. It's so dumb but when I came up with that acronym it fitted so perfectly and I couldn't come up with anything else. If somebody has anything and I mean ANYTHING that is somewhat related to what they may or may not do, please let me know. 
> 
> And for the sake of copyright I have to mention the Angelarium by mainly Peter Mohrbacher and associates. If you want you can look these angels up, some of them are fiction and some of them are related to Jewish and Christian Theology, or Mythology if your an atheist. Me, I'm a deist, which means I believe there is a god, but he took a step back to watch and observe after creating us. 
> 
> Final thing, thank you for over 200 hits! It's kinda awesome, thanks again.


	8. The Date Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a fun time, I helped my best girlfriend break up with her toxic ass boyfriend and made some fresh pasta. Here's hoping this year will be better than the last!

The Date Part II  
The large cat stood over the three students, who all stared up at the man in some fear. He was a feared criminal, afterall. Even more nervous was Fox, who wasn’t sure how Panther would react to the three students stalking their date; on his request. 

“Fox,” Panther stated. “Who are these three?”

“Ahhhh sorry hon.” Fox apologized, running over. “These are my students.”

“Were they stalking us?”

“With my permission.”

The feline tilted his head. “Explain.”

“I was really nervous about our date because I really care about you and I wanted this to go well.” He took out the earbud. “So they tagged along to give me advice through this.”

The larger man glared down at his smaller partner. He leaned forwards, making Fox lean further back. When the vulpine looked as if he was trying to limbo, he smiled and began to laugh. “That’s hilarious!” He exclaimed. “And really cute. Listen, even if this date didn’t go well, it wouldn’t have drawn me away from you.” Gently, he held Fox’s chin. “You’re just too special. I’m not going to run away from this. Promise.”

For the first time in a long time, Fox felt his heart melt. It soon brought tears to his eyes as his new love pulled him into a warm embrace. The vulpine cried into his chest, but thankfully, they were tears of joy. “Why are you crying, love?” The larger man asked.

“I-I-I’m so happy.” He sobbed. “I know it now, I love you.”

Panther smiled as a tear rolled down his cheek. “I love you too.”

Once Fox was swept off his feet, the two kissed once again, with Beatrice and Kate clapping. Klaus stood silent, furrowing his eyebrows. He thought the two were moving too fast once again, professing love so quickly and all. It concerned him. Love like that ruins a relationship. That was what happened to his parents, after all.

However, as the two kissed, he heard the subtle snap of a camera from the other side of the park pathway with his sensitive hearing. He clicked his tongue once and picked out a small weasel man with a camera hiding in a bush. Immediately, he realized it was a member of the press. He pulled her friends close to whisper to them. “Paparazzi over there. We’re going to go beat the shit out of him.”

From her purse, Kate pulled out a bottle of mace and Klaus pulled out a trench knife while Beatrice grabbed two brass knuckles from inside her jacket. With their weapons equipped, they chased after the nosy weasel. Immediately, he noticed them and booked it, thus beginning a chase that left the happy couple by themselves. “What are they doing?” Panther asked as Beatrice tackled the man to the ground.

“Beating up Paparazzi.” Fox answered, watching Klaus smash the camera. 

“Are they normally this defensive of you?”

“Oh totally. Klaus once beat up another kid when he called me a fag.”

“If anyone calls you a fag I’m killing them.”

Fox leaned against his shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now where do you want to go now?”

“Let’s go to the café Lucien’s parents own!”

Still carrying Fox, Panther began the walk to the café. The place was fairly large and was built right at the center of the park. It had three walls of purely glass and a back part for the kitchen. Inside, there were a few couches with tables in between them, as well as quite a few tables. And on the back wall, next to the kitchen, was a small stage with a young komodo dragon woman singing on it.

Zaz was singing her hit song, Je Veux, but in an acoustic version, where it was just her and her guitar, along with some kazoo-like mouth noises. “Wow,” The feline whispered. “This place is so much more… nice.”

“Lucien did tell me his parents put everything into this place.” His boyfriend replied. “Come on, let’s go see Henri and Jeanne.”

While he wasn’t sure who they were, Panther followed behind Fox to greet some elderly-looking komodo dragons. Immediately they recognized him and spoke rapid-fire Venomillian at him in excitement. Then came kisses on both cheeks and hugs. “You look so skinny!” Jeanne, Lucien’s mother, exclaimed. “We need to fatten you up!”

“You know I can’t.” Fox replied, laughing.

“Why?” Henri, her husband, asked. “You’re retired from that life! Even if you are a youngin’!”

The vulpine snickered. “I just like to stay fit, okay? Especially since I have a new boyfriend.” He pushed Panther forwards. “Mr. and Mrs. DeGaulle, meet my boyfriend, Panther.”

The feline received the same treatment of his other half, kisses on both cheeks and large hugs. Jeanne went a step further and inspected his body, patting his stomach pretty hard with the back of her hand. “Ferme!” She exclaimed. “He has abs of steel!”

“We’ll make those nice and soft! Tell us what you want!”

The two ended up ordering a lot, especially since Jeanne said that Fox would be able to eat for free. They got a large rectangular slice of opera cake each, two macaroons for each four different flavors available, three chocolate eclairs and madeleine cookies placed against large cups of homebrewed coffee. 

“Thank you so much, Ma’am.” Panther said.

“You are very welcome, chéri.” The elderly woman replied in her thick accent. “Please, enjoy!”

Immediately, Fox stuffed a chocolate macaroon into his mouth whilst giggling. Most wouldn’t think that the hero of Lylat was so childish, but he was. And it was something his boyfriend was loving more and more each day. “You’re adorable.” He stated. 

“Mmm?” The vulpine replied, a mouthful of food.

Panther laughed. “I said you’re adorable. How old are you again?”

“29. You?”

“31.”

“Not nearly as old as Wolf. I had no idea he was in his fifties.”

“You’re telling me.” The former mercenary sighed. “I do worry about him. He was an awful person but… he’s trying to make a change.”

“It’s why I pardoned you guys.” Fox said. “I knew you were all good people at heart. Everyone was at some point. Things in life just happen that makes us bad.” He sighed. “Listen, I don’t mean to put a damper on the mood, but why did you join Star Wolf in the first place?”

“Well, you know I didn’t join until after the Lylat Wars. During that time I was actually a soldier in the Cornerian Military.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Really. It was a good job, and I got to fight for a cause I cared for. Well… I did at the time.” He looked out the window. “I was at the Aquas massacre.”

Fox gasped. The Aquas Massacre was one of the most deadly battles during the Lylat Wars. It was when Corneria attempted to reclaim their lost bases and sent a large strike force. Andross countered by sending an even more overwhelming force. During that battle, four flagships, a dozen destroyers, six cruisers and two carries were all lost. Not to mention the hundreds of fighters and pilots. In total, Corneria lost over 100,000 men in that battle alone. Almost no one survived. 

“After that, I realized how incompitent the Cornerian Military was.” He continued. “I’ve always respected you for never joining them. And I lost a lot of brothers in that battle.” He groaned. “It was chaos. My entire squad was killed as soon as we left the hangar and I flew in the battle not knowing what to do. Eventually, I got hit with a smart missile. For some reason I never died and I crashed into the oceans of Aquas.”

“How did you even survive that?”

Panther smirked. “Have you heard that the soldiers stationed on Aquas say they hear singing coming from the ocean at night?”

“Klaus told me about them.”

“He’s from there?” He paused for Fox to nod. “Well, I learned that it’s because there are mermaids and mermen living there.”

Fox’s jaw dropped. “No way! And did they save you?”

“They did. When my ship crashed, they kept me above the water and fed me fish. And the waters of Aquas are all clean, so I was able to drink it.”

“That’s amazing.” He whispered. “How did you get back?”

“They brought me all the way to an abandoned base. There, I was able to repair a really old arwing and I flew to the nearest station, which just so happened to be Sargasso. Not knowing what to do, I stayed and became a mercenary.”

“Why didn’t you go back?”

“I was angry. The entire attack on Aquas was out of spite and pride. When you have sprite and pride at the forefront of your strategic decisions, you’re bound to lose a war!”

“That’s exactly why I did things my own way.” Fox said. “I hope Peppy fixes things there. I’m tired of the bullshit.”

“My final straw was when Pepper used the emergency powers and kicked the President out of office. I thought for sure he was going to turn Corneria into a dictatorship.”

“Hedy’s going to remove those powers.”

Panther raised his coffee. “All the more reason to vote for her.”

Not only did the two agree on politics, they also agreed on their views of the military. There was some hope, as Peppy had been working tirelessly at reforms and Otto was recently promoted to Lieutenant General. Already the two have been working on massive changes. Peppy in the space and Otto on the ground. 

Because the two agreed on so much, Fox felt as if he was getting closer and closer with his new boyfriend. The two had sex already, but that was never a binding thing. People have one-night-stands plenty, yet they never see that partner again. To the vulpine, sex was never a binder, experiences and time were. Yet he never truly felt the intimacy of exclusiveness. It would have to be an adjustment.

“Oh!” Panther suddenly exclaimed. “I meant to tell you, but I got a new neighbor. She’s the female equivalent of Lucien, I swear.”

“Really?” The vulpine asked. “Do tell.”

Katharina, his new neighbor, is a nurse like Lucien, as well as an immigrant, but from Macbeth. Like the komodo, she’s short and reptilian, but a light green iguana. Not only does she share a lot physically, but she’s also a lot like him in personality. A tinge of sass in her personality, mean in the morning, but caring and dedicated to her work. “Does she swear at you in Macbethian?” Fox asked.

“She called me an Arschloch once. I looked it up and it means asshole.” The feline answered.

“Do you like her?”

“Of course I do! She called me that after I made a joke about Macbeth and how hostile their language sounds.”

“Doesn’t it? When Lucien talks, he makes me wish he was gay.” He blushed. “N-Not that I do now, being with you and all.”

Fox groaned. He felt embarrassed beyond belief. How hard can it be to be dedicated? Yet Panther didn’t seem annoyed and instead giggled. “She’s asexual too. We should hook them up.”

The vulpine opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Valerie running over with a bright smile. She put her face between the two and spoke to the smaller man. “Hey Fox! Lucien told me you’re a really good singer! Is it true?”

“Uh yeah, I sing a bit.” He answered, confused.

“That’s a huge compliment from him! He used to sing too!”

The vulpine smiled. “Really?”

“Really! He used to call himself Fleur because all of his stuff was about nature and love.”

“This is awesome. Why did he stop?”

“I don’t really know. One day he stopped and went back to college to get a nursing degree.” She paused. “He was talking to this weird person beforehand. We never learned who she was, though.”

“You didn’t see her?” Panther asked.

“It was over the phone. When we confronted him, he said she was his girlfriend. I asked more but he only got angry.”

“Strange.” Fox stated. “He did the same to us.”

Come to think of it, Lucien had a habit of staying up late, and some night, Fox could swear he was talking to someone. He never questioned it, because when he’d ask, the roommate always told him that he talks in his sleep. Which was true, after Lucien once passed out drunk and talked in Venomillian in his sleep. “But if he was only sleep talking, it’d be in Venomillian.” Fox muttered to himself. “I think I need to have a talk with Lucien.”

“Let me know how it goes.” Valerie said. “Now, do you want to sing?”

“Something that isn't Venomillian?” 

“Of course! I’ll even let you pick.”

With an excited squeal, Fox followed Valerie onto the stage. Using a small computer on the side, he selected the music production of a song to play. He selected a song they could both sing, that being, Ne Me Quitte Pas. It was a very slow song, with soft trombones and trumpets opening the song for Valerie, who sang first. 

Panther watched on from the table with a look of endearment on his face. During it, Klaus walked over and sat down next to him. “If you break his heart,” He began. “I’ll have to kill you.”

The feline snickered. “Trust me, I have no plans to.”

“Good, keep it that way, because I meant it. Us three will hunt you down.”

The former mercenary looked back at the other two, who glared at him. When he looked back at Klaus, he flashed his knife under his coat. Yet it only made him laugh. “I’m glad you three have Fox’s back when I’m not around. And when you’re not around, he has Lucien.” He sighed. “I’m jealous.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I don’t have a lot of friends. Aside from Katharina, Amelia and Fox, I don’t know a lot of people.”

“Well… I can’t help you with that. That’s for something to do yourself.”

Panther sighed and looked back to the stage to watch Fox and Valerie finish singing. Yet he couldn't get it out of his head that he's truly left to his own devices. Fox's friends certainly won't let him into the friend group, so he can't rely on him. Like with most people, it's up to him to get the ball moving to improve his own life. While having a boyfriend is good start, it's hardly enough supporting relationships.

After Fox finished singing, the two stayed for a while longer, finishing all of their pastries. Finally, they decided to finish the date when they saw that it was now 4:30 in the afternoon. Neither of them really wanted to end the date, but there wasn’t much else to do and it had been five hours already. Plus, Fox wanted to talk with Lucien.

The two walked one another to their cars and kissed goodbye. It was a short kiss, but neither of them really separated for about a minute. Beatrice had to come over and break them up so that they could all go home. “Just a little while longer?” Fox asked.

“No!” She exclaimed. “You’re the one who assigned us a 1000 word paper, and we have to do it!”

The vulpine chuckled as Beatrice pushed him to his car. After saying goodbye to his student, he drove off back to his house. He felt like he was floating on clouds with how the date went, and the text message that he got from Panther, saying that he enjoyed the date. Then he saw an old text from Lucien that he missed, and his heart sunk. 

He opened the text message and saw that it was just a meme. Problem was that it was all in Venomillian. While he was relieved that it wasn’t anything important, he felt a little gloomy thinking about the komodo. Either the talk is going to be light hearted or serious. He won’t know till he asks. 

When he got to his house, he didn’t open the door right away and instead pressed his ear against it. From the other side, he could hear Lucien talking, but he was quiet and he could only pick up bits. “Frost secured… At the SHOE… Valentine will… the Gate… No James, he’s not back yet”

Lucien got quiet again, so Fox decided to open the door. As soon as it cracked open, the komodo hung up and looked to the TV, where he was watching the news. He looked completely casual and not worried at all. Then he noticed Fox. “Oh hi Fox!” The roommate exclaimed. “How was the date?”

“It was really good.” He replied. “Sang a song with your sister and your parents were so sweet.”

“They always are. What else?”

“Uh… not much to say. I just need to talk to you.”

The komodo tilted his head. “Sure. What’s up?”

“Who were you talking to?”

“When?”

“Just a few seconds ago. I heard you talking on the phone.”

Lucien froze and stared at Fox with wide eyes. The two stared at one another for a few seconds before the reptile sighed deeply. “What did you hear?” He asked.

“Something about Frost securing something. A shoe. Someone named Valentine. A gate. And you telling a person named James that someone wasn’t home yet. And I’m guessing it had to do with me?”

The komodo nodded softly.

“And James was… was my dad. Is it a coincidence?”

Some tears formed in the younger man’s eyes. “Sit down Fox, I have a lot to tell you.”


	9. The Truth

Slowly, Fox sat down next to the komodo, who was steadily crying. Out of sympathy, the vulpine grabbed a box of tissues and patted them away. He wasn’t sure why the reptile was crying, especially since the two know so much about one another. What could have been so bad that it would cause him to break down so fast? “It’s okay Lucien, I won’t be mad.” Fox said, rubbing his friend’s back.   
  
“Yes you will!” He yelled suddenly. “I know things, things that you have a right to know. But he wouldn’t allow me, nor would my superiors.”

“What are you talking about?”

Lucien got up and walked to his room. He came back with a small disk with a glass lens. On the button was a button that he pressed, projecting an ID card with his face on it. The name, birthdate and bio were all the same, but there was an additional name next to his name in parentheses. “Fox, I am an agent of LACE, the secretive organization that protects Lylat from the supernatural. I was assigned to guard and watch over you as James carried out his mission.”   
  
“Is… is my dad alive?”   
  
“Yes. His survival was unbeknownst to everyone except the organization. Even Andross didn’t know he survived.”

Fox’s heart dropped through the floor. His dad was alive? And for what reason would he not tell his own son that he’s alive? It hurt the vulpine to his core. And much more, someone he has known for years held onto the information the entire time. “Why?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why has no one told me?”   


“Because James’ mission was much bigger than you or I. I’ve wanted to tell you for years, but I wasn’t allowed to.”

“Who didn’t?”   
  
“My superiors and James himself. I’ve had direct contact with him for years. We were just talking… but he told me he won’t be able to contact me again.”   
  
“W-what?! Why? Why can’t you talk to him anymore!?”   
  
“Fox, I know this is a lot, but please calm down so I can explain.”   


The vulpine did not. He did the exact opposite and stormed over to the booze cabinet to pour himself the strongest thing they had, which was Fichinian vodka. It went down his throat like it was nothing. So did the second and third. Just as he was about to have a fourth, Lucien snatched the glass and drank it himself. “No.” He said sternly. “Drinking will not fix this or help you. You’re going to sit down and listen to what I have to say. Then you can say your piece. Deal?”

All Fox wanted to do was punch Lucien. And so he did. Or at least tried to. The komodo was quick, grabbing onto Fox’s fist, twisting his arm and moving behind him to put him into a chokehold. He held him hard and brought him to the ground, an arm still wrapped around his neck. “Listen to me!” He hissed. “I’m trying to help you dammit!”

“Fuck you!” Fox yelled back.

He managed to struggle himself free and quickly got up. When Lucien rose, Fox punched him in the gut. The komodo stumbled back and hit the counter. Next to him, he grabbed the bottle of vodka. Just as he was about to hit his roommate with it, Fox wrapped his hands around his throat and slammed him to the ground. In response, Lucien stuck two fingers in his eyes and used his knee to push him off. 

The two scrambled back onto the feet, but the agent was faster. He managed to pick up the bottle and slammed it over Fox’s head, knocking him out and breaking the bottle. When the vulpine slumped to the ground, Lucien leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. 

Needless to say, he felt awful. He didn’t want to do what he just did and it was eating up at him already. Sure, he had done worse to people in his career, but those were people that deserved it. And most of the time, they’d just die, but he needed to explain things to Fox. It would be the first time he talked to someone after a fight. Interrogation wasn’t exactly his department.

After taking a minute to weep, Lucien stood up and dragged Fox to his room. There, he tied him to a wooden chair and sat on the side of his bed to call his superiors. “Do you need backup?” The woman on the other end asked.

“No, I’m just giving an update. Make sure Katharina knows about this and is prepared to secure Panther.”   


“I still don’t like the idea of involving him with this.”   
  
“Yeah, well I’m not mind wiping him when he and Fox have just started something together. Plus, his skills are invaluable.”

“Alright. Good luck.”   


Lucien put his phone down without so much as a goodbye and watched as Fox stirred awake. The vulpine felt awful. His fur and clothes were drenched and he smelled of strong alcohol. He attempted to move, but found that his entire body was bound to a chair. And next to him, he saw Lucien. Once again, rage filled him. “What the fuck have you done?!” He demanded, snarling. 

“What I did was for your own good.” The agent replied, much calmer now and calmly smoking a cigar. “Now you have no choice but to sit there and listen to me.”   
  
Out of spite, Fox spat on Lucien, who felt really tempted to hit him with another bottle. But he contained his anger, calmly wiping the spit away with a tissue. “That was rude.” He stated, putting down his cigar on an ashtray. “You’re lucky I still consider us friends.”   
  
“Fat chance.”   
  
“Suit yourself. But I’m still going to talk.”

“Fine, then do it.”   
  
Lucien took a deep breath before speaking. “You were asking me why I couldn’t contact your father anymore after that call. I can’t because he found his objective and it’s creating an immense amount of interference.”   
  
He paused for Fox to ask a question, but the vulpine’s lips never moved. So he continued. 

“His objective was the Gate of Sahaquiel. Sahaquiel is the guardian of the Other World, which is beyond his Gate. We’re after it because Andross, before the war, managed to steal power from the Gate to power a super weapon. Thankfully, you defeated Andross before he had the chance to use it. However, the energy taken from Sahaquiel and his gate was never returned, so the gate is fractured. To attempt to fix it, my superiors sent James to fight Andross and fake his death so he could pursue the Gate without interruption At the time, he was following the energy trail from it, but he returned to Lylat twice to help you.” That raised Fox’s ears, which Lucien took notice of. “He cares about you, Fox. He always has. He loves you so much that he jeopardized all of Lylat for you.”

At the time, Fox wasn’t sure to burst with joy at the realization that his father is still alive, or the rage of the fact that he faked his death. So, he just started crying. Lucien’s tense expression softened at the sight of his friend crying, and he walked over to him to untie him. When he was, he hugged the vulpine softly. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. “You have no idea how much it hurt to keep all these secrets from you. Even if you don’t want to be anymore, you’re still my friend, and I’m always looking out for you.”

Fox felt… odd. His heart was fluttering and a blush wouldn’t escape his cheeks. No one, not even his closest friends like Falco or Slippy had ever expressed such dedication. And the strong feeling he had caused him to lurch his head forwards and lock lips with the reptile. Lucien widened his eyes in shock as he was kissed. Gently, after a few seconds, he pushed the vulpine back and stared down his emerald eyes. “That… that was a mistake.” He whispered. 

“Why?”   


The komodo opened his mouth to show the copious amount of venomous saliva he has. Then his shark-like teeth flashed out from his gums, further splatting the venom around. Immediately Fox’s eyes snapped open and he booked it to the bathroom while Lucien grabbed a syringe full of anti-venom. He quickly injected it into the vulpine’s neck as he threw up into the toilet in an attempt to rid himself of the poison. When he was finished, Lucien sat behind him and wiped his mouth with a paper towel before throwing it away and flushing for him. “Are you alright?” He asked softly as he sat himself down on the counter.

“Y-yeah, I am now.” Fox replied. “Stings a little where you injected though.”   
  
“Here,” He reached into a bathroom drawer to grab a band-aid. “Let me fix that.”

The vulpine walked in front of his roommate and stared at his chin as the komodo put on the bandage. He felt confused. He’s supposed to be with Panther, why would he go kissing other people? Let alone his asexual roommate. It made him feel awful. That was cheating, wasn’t it? Of course, what else could kissing someone else that’s not your boyfriend be? 

When the bandage was on, Lucien gently brought his hand from his neck to the tan-furred chin. He held it softly, tilting it up so their eyes locked again. “I’m not angry. You’re going through a lot right now, and your emotions must be all over to place.”   
  
“Yeah but… but I’m with Panther, I shouldn’t be doing stuff like this still.” Fox argued.

“No… but given your rather… vast experience with other people, this is a big adjustment for you. Although I didn’t expect you to kiss me of all people.”

“Yeah sorry about that.”   
  
“Don’t be. It was…” He blushed softly. “Kinda nice. Not turn my gay nice, but more like; I’m not going to complain about it, nice.”

Fox snickered. “So what now?”   


“Now we standby. I’m waiting for my superiors to plan and then we’ll see. I’m sure they’ll want your help with whatever we do.”

“Okay… but can I ask one last question?”   
  
“Anything.”   
  
“Why hasn’t… Sahaquiel or whatever repaired the gate?”   
  
Apparently, there was a bigger issue than the Gate. The angel has gone missing, so something was going on in the Other World, which was why they’re going to send a team in. It was more concerning to the LACE inner circle than the missing energy. Because the angels were supposed to be immortal, something beyond their imagination was going on. “So things are fucked?” Fox asked.

“Very. Anything else?”   
  
“No, nothing right now.”   
  
“Alright.”

Not sure what else to do, Lucien went to his room and curled up into a blanket. Soon after, Fox joined him, spooning him. He felt incredibly confused. Part of him thought that he’d go to Panther for help, but him curling up into bed with him was one of the last things he thought he’d do. As the vulpine fell asleep, he whispered. “I’m sorry, but I can’t be alone right now.”

“I understand.” He replied.

“Thanks…”

It didn’t take long for Fox to fall asleep, his head over Lucien’s shoulder. The komodo felt uncomfortable, but the feeling of having a warm body laying with him overpowered what he felt earlier. Because of it, he had some of the best sleep he’s had in awhile, despite the argument he had with the vulpine. 

Right now, he just hopes that everything will turn out fine. Even if he knows that the road ahead is long and dangerous. The Other World is full of uncertainties and without their technology, it’ll be even harder to navigate. But with the team the LACE higher-ups have assembled gives Lucien hope. Even if he, Fox and Panther are going to be a part of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took awhile because I was afraid of the reaction to it. I've had it typed out for about maybe a week and a half now, I'm not sure how long it's been. And it's a lot to take in, I understand, but this was always my original intention. I just wanted to set up for Fox and Panther's relationship. I guess this is the first part in a trilogy. Of course this isn't the last chapter, there are more to come, but I'm just letting you all know that I'm not getting into the Other World stuff until this story is finished. Next chapter won't be the last, but I do have an ending planned for the work as a whole, don't you worry.
> 
> Thanks for reading, sorry if this was a bit disarming, but at the end of the day, it's my story and I'm doing this for myself to help get over my anxiety. And 300 hits... that's pretty cool to see not gonna lie. Thanks again, and stay safe.


	10. Election Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly after getting that last chapter out it feels like a weight was lifted off of my chest. Now you all know what you're really getting into! 
> 
> Another note, a tiny sprinkle of lemon at the end. Nothing too much! I don't have the guts for that.

A month later after Lucien’s confession, nothing much had changed. The komodo still worked at the hospital, but his calls to James ended as he said. And as far as he knew, there had been little to no progress made. Now that a month had passed, the election between Hedy and her opponent, Arnello, was happening. To watch the election unfold, Panther came over with a bread bowl.

Also coming was the entire former Star Fox team. Fox’s new boyfriend was going to be a surprise to them and really, after spending a month with Panther, going out on almost weekly dates, he didn’t care if they didn’t like the feline. He loved him. Which was why he felt awful for not telling him about what was going on with LACE and the fact his new neighbor was a spy. Now he knew how Lucien felt.

Panther was the first to arrive, bringing in his bread bowl and placing it down on the island. Once he did, Fox hugged him tight. “Are you ready for tonight?” He asked.

“Of course. I’ll always be here for you.” The feline replied, hugging back. “I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”  
  
“Good.”  
  
“Hey guys,” Lucien stated, “Falco and Katt are here.”

From a fancy sports car came out the avian and feline couple. Falco was wearing his new usual, a black leather jacket with a red and black striped shirt and ripped jeans. And Katt was wearing a white polkadot skirt with a red ribbon around her waist and her hair done up in curls. Recently, the two have been getting into the rockabilly scene. Falco started a band and Katt took up singing lessons. If it wasn’t for the business with LACE, Fox would’ve joined in as a singer. 

The two entered without even knocking. “Falco Lombardi in the house!” The avian exclaimed. 

“Hey Falco,” Fox greeted, moving away from his boyfriend. “Good to see you.”  
  
“Good to see you too old pal!” 

“So Fox,” Katt stated. “Tell me; what’s Panther doing here?”

She noticed him quickly. Just as fast, Falco averted his gaze to the feline behind the counter. He glared daggers into him, but he remained unflinching. “Guys,” Fox said with a sigh. “Panther is my boyfriend. We’ve been dating for a month.”

Both of their jaws dropped. “WHAT NO WAY!” They yelled.

“Please not so loud.” Lucien groaned. “I’m already buzzed as it is.”  
  
Fox sighed. Since his confession, the komodo has been drinking a lot more than usual. It seemed a little hypocritical, especially since their fight started when he was trying to get Fox to stop drinking. 

After getting their initial shock, the two asked a million and a half questions. Individually. The two answered to the best of their abilities, but it just didn’t seem to ever be enough for the opposite couple. By that time, Slippy arrived with his four children and very pregnant wife. As soon as he saw Panther, he knew what was going on and was a little too relaxed about it. “Oh hi Panther,” He greeted. “How are you?”  
  
“I-I’m fine.” The feline answered. “You’re not… surprised?”  
  
“Well we pardoned you and you’re here with Fox. And I trust him, so I think I can trust you. By the way Fox, I brought garlic bread.”

“Thanks Slips. And thanks for being chill with this.”  
  
“What is it between you two? Friends?”  
  
“Boyfriends.” He answered.

The toad smirked and his wife was in the same situation as Falco and Katt, asking a million and a half questions for a grand total of 4.5 million questions. Thankfully, Peppy, his daughter and granddaughter were all completely fine and half expecting it. It was the first time Fox met little Piper and was super ecstatic. “Oh look at her!” He coddled. “How cute is she?”  
  
“As cute as me.” Lucy replied.

“That’s up for debate. I think she’s cuter!”

Panther stared at the mother. Last time he saw her was when Fox was at the bar and was trying to get into bed with her. He knew the feeling immediately. Before he was with Krystal, she was with Fox and back then, he was jealous. Now he was jealous that Fox had more than just an eye for her. And given the vulpine’s past of going from bed to bed, he was slightly worried. Plus, he thought that something more happened between Lucien and Fox that was going unsaid. 

Soon enough, the big news companies began to do live coverage of the election. All of them were nervous. As much as they would like it to be an easy win, it wasn't going to be. Arnello campaigned on a platform of anti-immigration, nationalism and decreasing regulation. All of them hated him. Especially Lucien, who admitted to Fox that he thought of using LACE’s resources to assassinate him. Most in the agency agreed, but they couldn’t. 

As they watched, they caught up on old times. To their surprise, however, there was another knock at the door. This time, Panther got up to get it. “Sorry for not telling you Fox, but I invited a friend.” He apologized. 

He opened the door, revealing a tall, albino wolf carrying two trays of food. His rose gold hair flowed freely in the window. Fox was quick to realize who it was. “No way, Leonidas?”

“Hello Mr. McCloud, I hope I’m not crashing the party. To make up for it I brought a big tray of spaghetti and another chicken parmesan to go with it.”

“Who is that guy?!” Falco exclaimed. “His muscles are as big as my face!”

“That’s Leonidas! He’s Wolf’s son who faked his death.” Fox answered.

“HE HAS A SON?!” All of them yelled. 

The tall lupine laughed and told his story to the group. From how he faked his death and to his time in culinary school. It gave them some perspective as to how bad Wolf was, and everyone sympathized with him. Peppy went a step further and sat him down at the island to talk. Lucien, however, was surprised to see him. Regardless, he put on a fake smile and happily greeted the muscular lupine. “I’ll admit,” Falco said to Fox. “I’ve never seen an albino before.”  
  
“That’s the big thing you’re getting out of this?” The vulpine replied, mildly annoyed.

“Well come on, it can’t be too shocking that he has a son.”  
  
“Darling,” Panther stated. “Would you like a child someday?”

He nodded. “I would. Just one, but if you wanted more I’d be happy to.”  
  
The feline smiled. “If we go all the way, I’d be more than happy to be a father.”

“R-really?”  
  
Panther leaned in. “Of course.”  
  
Gently, he leaned into a kiss. Peppy turned his gaze and Lucy seemed mildly disappointed, but Sally and Slippy were totally supportive of the two. Falco and Katt didn’t seem to care and were too busy getting food from Leonidas. They also socialized with the lupine, and immediately formed a bond with him thanks to their mutual hate of Wolf. 

The party went on and the results were coming in steadily. It was a really hard race to call. Both of them have scored the big provinces and more were still coming in. All of them waited anxiously for the results. Just as they were watching, Fox got a call on his phone. It was Hedy. Quickly, he answered. “Hedy, what’s up?”  
  
“Just nervous is all.” She answered. “I didn’t think Corneria was so… ignorant.”  
  
“It’s hard to think poorly of the planet you love.” Fox replied. “I love this planet too, but it’s easier for me to be objective. I’m from Papetoon, afterall.”  
  
“I might go there if that bâtard wins.” Lucien said, holding a glass of red wine. “At least it’s hot like Venom.”

“Hell I might go back too. I still speak the language.” Fox replied.

The komodo’s eyes rounded. “Pardon?! You speak another language?”  
  
“I do, but it’s killer on my throat.” He rubbed his throat. “It’s a lot of noises in our throat. It can be painful.”

“Speak to me in Papetoonian, babe.” Panther said, smirking.

“Sweetie, trust me, you don’t want me speaking Papetoonian to you. It’s not a sexy language.”  
  
“Do it.”

Hedy cringed. "I'm gonna go. Wish me luck."

The presidential hung up quickly. And after clearing his throat, Fox began to ramble on in his native language. He wasn’t lying, all of it is throat sounds mixed in with some regular language. A language that could not be understood, but it was still a sound to behold. Or run away from. When he was done, he crossed his arms. “Told you there was nothing sexy about it.”  
  
“No… but it sounds familiar…” Panther paused to think where he had heard it before. It had something to do with the vulpine, but when and where? On a date? The first one? The events of that date were vast with his students and all. Then he remembered the popsicle, which led to another memory that brought a blush to his cheeks. “Oh…” He whispered. “That’s where I remember it from.”

“When?” Leonidas, who came over with Falco and Katt, asked.

“When he blew me.”  
  
The lupine laughed. “Oh that’s funny. So you two are intimate?”  
  
“Only once. We’ve been trying to take it slow since.”  
  
“Oh trust me,” Fox said, overhearing. “If Hedy wins, we’re having victory sex.”

Panther blushed. “Y-yes darling.”  
  
The vulpine closed his eyes and fantasized about the things he was planning on doing, worrying the feline and the komodo. It was Lucien who would have to deal with the noises late into the night. Did he deserve it? Perhaps. But he wasn’t willing to pay that price. 

He walked over and sat next to Leonidas on the couch. The lupine didn’t mind him at first, but soon noticed his annoyed look. “Is something the matter?” He asked.

“Hm? Oh, nothing really. I’m just going to have to deal with loud sex noises for the rest of the night.”

“You can stay at my place if you want.”

“Come on Leo, you know my mission.”  
  
He nodded. “I understand.”

“Let’s talk outside.”  
  
Leonidas stood up and followed Lucien out to the deck. In the back were two woven white chairs with a glass table between them. They sat down in a chair and stared out at the massive lake. “So Leo,” The komodo began. “James found his objective. For the past month Director Wake and the others have been coming up with a plan. When Hedy becomes president, we’re going to launch the mission and you’re coming with.”

“Why me?”  
  
“You’re the best martial artist we’ve ever had. And in a world where there’s no electricity, we’re going to need your expertise.”

“Wake told me I was done.”  
  
He glared. “Wake lied. When has LACE not lied to us? Besides, you owe her. The only reason why you’re able to cook in that fancy restaurant is because of her.”

The lupine growled. It was true. LACE knew immediately that Leonidas never died and brought him in. They gave him a name change and gave him citizenship as long as he worked with them for a few years. When he was done, they did vaguely tell him that he was still in debt. They wanted to pull him in awhile ago, but Lucien always took the task so he could live a somewhat normal life. “You know Lucien,” Leonidas began. “I always wondered… How is an upper mid-level agent like you so influential?” 

“I’m good at making friends and I get things done without fail. People trust me and by extension my opinions or advice.” He answered, smiling. “We’re friends, right?”  
  
“Of course we are.” The lupine immediately pledged. “You’re the reason I haven’t been involved with LACE. Until now.”  
  
“Sorry I couldn’t do more. Trust me, I tried talking them out of you coming with us, but they’re right. Your talents are needed.”  
  
“No need to apologize, I understand. You can tell Director Wake that I’m in and I won’t resist.”

The komodo smiled. “Thank you, old friend.”

“Bah, no need.”

“Trust me, there is a need for thanks.” He sighed deeply. “There’s something I need to tell you that I shouldn’t but I’m done keeping secrets from my friends. Your father… he’s going to be joining us.”  
  
Leo’s eyes rounded. “What?”  
  
“I know, but he’s as vital to the mission as James is. He had the Second Book of Angels and was preaching it. We don’t know how long he’s been a priest, but he’s been leading a new life.”

“He’s a priest? After all the things he’s done… he can just preach madness in a temple?!”  
  
The lupine gripped his chair so hard that he broke the wood strands keeping it together. It made Lucien jump a little. “I-I understand Leo, it’s bullshit and Wake doesn’t care about the trauma he’s caused you.”

“I hate her.” He snarled.

“Trust me, I do too. Nobody really likes her… but damn is she smart.”

“Yeah… that she is. I couldn’t think of a better Director.”

Lucien sighed and decided to end their talk. Together, the two went back inside where they found everyone excited. Apparently, Hedy was starting to take a big lead, flipping multiple swing provinces. Leonidas cheered, but the komodo remained calm. He knew Hedy was going to win from the day the two nominees were selected. LACE would never allow a moron like Arnello to be president. 

When the results came in, they all celebrated. Lucien had to admit, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. Having a president that wouldn’t kick him and his family off of the planet was a nice thing. 

After an hour Hedy gave her speech, she sat in her private room of her hotel. When she opened the door, a surprisingly tall white mouse woman was standing there. She was smoking a cigarette in her cotton blue trench coat, pantyhosen and red heels. Hedy tilted her head at the sight of the woman, who spoke first. “Congratulations Madam President.”

“Thank you, but who exactly are you?” She replied.

“I’m Peggy Wake, director of LACE.”  
  
The doe widened her eyes. “So you are real? Does my victory have anything to do with you?”  
  
“Partly. It was a close race, so we just made it less close. You always had the possibility to win, even without us.”

“This is fraud! Why would you do this?”  
  
“Aren’t you a noble politician? Admitting that there was fraud even when it benefitted you.” She stepped closer to the doe. “Madam President, we needed you to win. Arnello is an idiot. He couldn’t handle the responsibility of the truth.”

“Which is?”  
  
“Every rumor that you have heard about LACE and what we do is true. Vampires, zombies and the other various anomalies are all real. And the biggest one is something you need to know about.”  
  
Hedy nodded and sat down at her desk while Peggy explained everything. From the Gate to the Other World, the president-elect was given the full truth. It was slightly overwhelming for her, but she stood strong. “So now do you understand why Fox must be included on this mission?”  
  
She nodded. “I do. I just wish I could protect him more. These are his golden years and he’s in love, he shouldn’t be having to fight after he’s already done so much.”  
  
“Trust me, I wouldn’t bring him into this if we didn’t have to.”  
  
“And James? I’m guessing he’s alive.”  
  
“How did you know that?”  
  
The president elect furrowed her eyebrows. “A gut feeling.”  
  
“I understand you two were close. Tell me, did you love him?”  
  
“At some point I’m sure I did. Still set him up with Vixy though and I have never regretted it. If I hadn’t, Fox wouldn’t have been born and who knows what would’ve happened if he wasn’t here.”

“I agree completely. But are you prepared to sign the order that will send him to the Other World?”

Peggy pulled out a tablet and slid it onto Hedy’s desk, along with an electronic pen. The president elect read it over and found no differences on the paper and what the Director had told her. However, she still had doubts. “How do I know I can trust you? This department of yours… LACE, it's more powerful than my office. Why do you need my permission?”  
  
“You’re wrong. The previous president knew about us and provided funding. You should do the same.”  
  
“Seems I have no choice. Your work sounds vital to say the least.”  
  
“There’s the smart Hedy Corneria knows. Go on, sign it.”  
  
“Am I going to regret this?”  
  
“No darling. I may sound malicious, but truly, I am looking out for all of Lylat.”

While she still had her doubts, Hedy signed the tablet, green-lighting the mission to cross into the Other World. The Director calmly thanked her before pulling out a small circular device and throwing it on the ground. From the corner of the hotel room, a person in a red cloak appeared and walked close to the device. The only thing Hedy could see were his amber and crimson eyes. She only caught a glimpse of them before the device glowed blue and the two were gone, along with the machine. “What have I done?” She asked herself. “I hope I don’t come to regret this.”

Back at the house, everyone had gone home except for Panther and Leonidas. The lupine stayed to spend more time with Lucien, and now sat on the porch with a bottle of wine, assorted cheeses, crackers and aged meat while listening to classic Venomillian songs. And while the two men did that, the other two men had more intimate fun to more modern pop music. At the end of their adventures, Panther breathed deeply with his boyfriend laying on top of his body. “S-So that’s what it feels like.” He gasped. 

“I hope I didn’t hurt you too badly.” Fox replied, walking his fingers up his chest.  
  
“No… not at all.” He gathered his breath. “That was amazing. I can’t believe you had enough energy to top me after what you did with your legs.”  
  
“Just taming my big sexy beast. Gotta break those hips to keep you under control.”

“Oh, growl.”  
  
Outside, Lucien facepalmed himself. He forgot that his roommate's room was right next to the porch and the two could hear everything. So he punched the wall a few times and yelled at them to keep quiet while Leonidas laughed. Once the couple got quiet, he spoke. “Those two better keep out of each other’s pants while we’re in the Other World.”

“You can’t stop the power of love, Lucien.” He replied.

“What do you know? You don’t have a date, do you?”

“Nah, I just hook up every now and then.”  
  
“I bet it’s real easy for you.”

The lupine raised an eyebrow. “Is that a compliment?”

“Whatever. Take it as you will.”

Lucien turned away and glared over at Leonidas. His eyes scanned the muscular body up and down before he took a sip of wine. It was his forth glass and Leonidas was on his third. To no surprise, he felt a strong buzz but it wasn’t sloppy drunk. “Tell me Lucien,” The albino began. “Have you actually had sex before?”  
  
“Well… I’ve gotten into beds with targets, but I’ve never gone all the way before killing them.”

“Come here.”  
  
He wasn’t sure why, but the komodo obeyed the larger male and sat on his lap, facing him. Slowly, the albino reached his hand up and caressed Lucien’s face, slowly bringing it down to his crotch. It made him let out a soft gasp. “I can be a gentle lover.” Leonidas stated. “What do you say? Want to put that asexuality to the test?”  
  
“A-Alright… take me.”  
  
With little effort, Leonidas swept the agent off his feet and carried him to his bedroom while kissing his neck. The komodo did nothing and let his partner do whatever he wanted to him, which started with laying him down on the bed and removing his clothes. When he got to his boxers, he looked up at the reptile. “May I?”  
  
With a bright blush on his face, Lucien nodded and Leonidas finished the deed. Throughout his experience, he did little to nothing, hardly even flinching with a cold stare on his face. However, when he was penetrated, a sort of gasp-moan escaped his mouth. It caught Fox’s attention, who was not yet quite asleep. Slowly, he got up and threw a blanket around himself. 

Walking silently, Fox crossed the hall and cracked open his roommate’s door. It opened only far enough for him to peek inside. He had a clear view of Lucien sitting on Leonidas’ lap with him burying his face into the crook of his neck and holding onto the larger man’s shoulders. The lupine noticed Fox and winked with a finger to his lips. Immediately, a huge smile grew on his face and he slowly closed the door without so much as a click. 

When he got back to his room, he immediately told Panther of what happened. “I-I thought you said he was asexual.” He whispered back.

“I know! I totally thought so too. Maybe he’s drunk or curious? I can’t wait to ask him a bajillion questions in the morning!”  
  
Fox crawled back into bed and rested his head on Panther’s chest, rather than his pillow. Giggling, the two quickly fell asleep, hopeful for the future, no matter how uncertain it was. 


	11. Day After

Fox woke up before Panther, who had his arms wrapped around him. Neither of them got dressed and went to sleep in the nude, so the vulpine had to throw on some jeans and a t-shirt before walking out into the kitchen to make coffee for his hangover. There, he saw Leonidas, who had already made a cup of coffee. Upon seeing him, Fox asked some questions about what happened between him and Lucien last night. Apparently, Lucien couldn’t get out of bed as a result of their antics. Curious as to what happened, he went to the room and found the komodo curled up in his bed with a bag of ice being pressed against his rear by his tail. He was awake, but he looked miserable. “Was it that bad?” Fox asked.

“My ass feels like it was torn in two.” He replied, groaning. “I don’t want to ever do it again.”   
  
“Damn, how big was he?”   
  
“You know the 24oz cans I use to make my soup?”   
  
His jaw dropped. “No way, that’s bigger than Panther!”   
  
“It was massive… I regret it.”   
  
“So you think you’re really asexual?”   
  
“Totally. Now I know at least.”   
  
The vulpine giggled and left to brew him some tea and got him painkillers. He was about to leave to wish Panther goodbye, but the komodo stopped him. “Tell him.” He whispered. “Tell him the truth. He deserves it.

“I’ve been meaning to… I just didn’t know when to.” Fox admitted.

“There is never a good time for this. Best tell him now.”

The vulpine nodded and met Panther outside. He pulled him into a kiss, but Fox stopped him, saying there was something he needed to tell him. It was an intense moment and Leonidas silently watched from the doorway, reading their lips. However, there was only one set of lips to read and that was Fox's. Panther said nothing and simply nodded his head as he listened to his boyfriend tell him the full truth. Throughout it, Fox's heart ached and he cried as he attempted to explain. As painful as it was, the feline made no movement to comfort him, making the vulpine think he was angry. When it was over, Panther tenderly kissed Fox goodbye and left only saying a few words. 

When Fox came back inside, he was still crying. Leonidas gently held him and set him down on the couch. “Did it go wrong?”    
  
“S-Sorta…” He replied, sniffling. “I can tell he’s disappointed… but he also still loves me. He said he needs a day or two before we talk again.”   
  
“Want me to talk to him? I’m involved in this too now and I’m close with him.”

“No, just let him do what he has to do. I hope he doesn’t have too much of a confrontation with Katharina. LACE agents are tough.”   
  
Leonidas raised an eyebrow. “Did you fight Lucien?”   
  
“Yeah.”   
  
“Yikes. Big mistake, I taught Lucien everything he knows. Well, most things. I can’t teach him how to be a good combat medic like he is now.”

“It’s hard to believe you’re in the agency too. How big is it?”   
  
“To the point where they were able to influence the presidential election.”   
  
Fox gasped softly. He knew that LACE was powerful, but for them to be able to influence a planet-wide election was a whole different level. And it was why Lucien was so calm during the election. Part of him was starting to think that the Venomillian may be telling the truth as to who he was, but as far as his personality went, he was a completely different person. As of recently, he was showing it. “Leonidas, you sound like you’ve known Lucien longer than I have. Can you tell me the real him?”   
  
“Sure. At heart, he’s a caring and friendly person. Has lots of friends, but over the years of knowing him, I’ve noticed that he’s grown colder. Sure he’s a combat medic, but he’s also an assassin. He was the guy we sent into strip clubs and brothels to kill the baddies there. It helped that it was easy to dress him up as a girl.”   


“So… he knows how to pole dance?”   
  
Leo gave him an odd stare. “That’s seriously what you got out of that? Whatever, and yeah, he’s pretty good at it. It’s his favorite weapon aside from his submachine gun.”   


“He fights with a pole?” Fox asked, a bit surprised.

“Yep, and he does wonders with it.”

Fox looked towards his roommate’s room. It really seemed like the komodo had lied to him. Was he only acting like that to deceive him? And he just had sex after years of saying he was asexual. Then again, he really did not seem to enjoy himself. “Did you have to wreck him so badly?” Fox asked.

“Hey you saw me, I was barely thrusting!”   
  
“But you were BALLS DEEP!” The vulpine exclaimed, laughing. “And he said your dick was as big as a 24oz can of soup!”   
  
Leonidas tilted his head and went into their pantry. After about a minute Fox heard a zip and the lupine turned around. “Not quite the girth of it, but yes, the length is the same.”   
  
“Damn.”

After measuring his dick size, Leonidas went to Lucien’s room. At the time, the komodo was on his phone playing a game. The lupine sat down next to him, rubbing his shoulder. “I’m sorry if I was too rough. I was trying to be gentle.”   
  
“No, it’s fine.” The komodo replied, rolling over. “I’ll be fine in a day or so. Did you at least enjoy it?”   
  
“You didn’t enjoy any of it?” Leonidas asked, surprised. “Not even the blow job?”   


He shook his head. “Can’t say I did. I’m sure you did a good job, but it’s just not for me. Thank you, though. You helped me confirm my asexuality.”

“Were you not confident in it?” He asked.

“Not after Fox kissed me suddenly.”   
  
Leonidas gasped and covered his mouth, hoping that the vulpine didn’t hear him. After a sigh, Lucien explained that he felt different after their sudden kiss. It was cut short by his poisonous saliva, but it still did something to him that caused him to question his sexual identity. “Sorry,” He apologized suddenly. “I used you.”   
  
The lupine sighed and patted his friend’s shoulder before leaving the room. It really did feel as if he was used. So he left the house entirely, leaving the two roommates and tension in the air. Fox’s heart was breaking and Lucien was worried that he hurt a friend. Grant it, he was the one that was actually hurt, but he harmed Leonidas in a way that pills couldn’t fix. Combine that with the mission looming over his head and the pain in his ass, he began to cry into his pillow loud enough for Fox to hear. 

Slowly, the mammal walked into his friend’s bedroom and sat next to him on the side of the bed. He rubbed the back of his scaly head gently as tears stained his sheets. “Was it really that bad?” Fox asked.

“I-I used him.” The komodo replied. “After our kiss, I just started to question myself and it led me to going to bed with Leo.”   
  
“This is my fault.” The vulpine whispered. “I’m so sorry Lucien. It was so sudden and I was impulsive. If it’s any consolation, I’ve felt awful since. It felt like I cheated on Panther, and I love him so much.”

Lucien turned towards him. “Do you love me?”   


Fox smiled softly. “Not in the way you’re thinking. It’s more brotherly at this point. I think the kiss confirmed it. It made me feel awful because I cheated Panther and I made you confused. I’m so sorry.”   
  
“So am I. For keeping so much away from you.”   
  
Slowly, the vulpine climbed into bed with his friend and pulled out his phone. After taking a selfie, he switched to a streaming app and watched their favorite shows for the rest of the day, ignoring all of their problems. For the time being, they forgot about the mission and their struggling relationships to enjoy their Venomillian soap operas and tea.    


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know, really short chapter for the amount of time I was gone, but there were things that needed to be addressed and resolved before I could move onto the next. At this point, I'm wrapping up this story. There's only 2-3 chapters left of this and then I'll move on to the next one after I finish my other story. I don't want to start the big project while I have another, smaller one going.


	12. Green Light

Yet another week had passed. In that week, Panther never called back Fox and the vulpine made no effort to take the first stop, worrying he would anger his partner. Needless to say, he was feeling lonely. His roommate no longer acted like the person he once knew. His students even noticed how down he was and made efforts to cheer him up. Even Hedy called at one point to make sure he was doing okay. While he was thankful for everyone, he hated being pitied on. On top of that, Lucien returned to his nursing job after taking his break, but arrived back home early. He rushed through the door and found Fox sitting on the couch. “Fox!” He exclaimed. “Peggy called.”  
  
He tilted his head. “Who the hell is Peggy?”  
  
“Oh right, you don't know her. She's my boss! Peggy Wake, the director of LACE!”  
  
“Oh shit. What did she say?”  
  
“We got the Greenlight from the President. Operation Gatekeeper is a go.”  
  
“What do we have to do?”  
  
“Gather anything important and come with me. LACE will handle your disappearance.”  
  
While he was still a bit confused, Fox got dressed and Lucien grabbed a suitcase from his closet, which he kept hidden behind a false panel. In it were a few important documents, proving that he was an agent and then his pistol, as well as a collapsible pole. He also changed into his combat uniform, which was a white latex bodysuit with stockings and arm sleeves. So when he came out of his room and in front of Fox, the vulpine got a nose bleed. “I know,” The komodo growled. “But it’s insulated and I’m not hindered by any clothes. Now wipe your nose and get moving!”

Fox did as he was told and followed him out to his car. Lucien took the wheel and drove them an hour out of town to the rural areas. It was a silent and tense drive to the agency HQ. And when they got there, Fox was severely underwhelmed. It was an old barn with a farmhouse next to it. Lucien parked and got out to greet an elderly goat man and his equally old wife of the same species. “Bonjour Monsieur Bud, bonjour Mademoiselle Mabel. It’s been awhile.”  
  
“Good to have you back Lucien.” Mabel replied. “I see you brought Fox.”  
  
“I did indeed. May we come in?”  
  
“Of course.”

The elderly couple led the two inside. There, they took them to the basement and Mabel flipped a switch. It was all silent for a moment before a panel in the floor slid open and an elevator emerged from it. The doors opened, revealing a figure wearing a red trench coat. Lucien smiled. “Hello Valentine.”

“Lucien.” He replied. “Peggy is waiting.”  
  
“Wait,” Fox stated. “What about Panther? Has Katharina brought him in?”  
  
“He’s been here for the past week.” The man answered.

Lucien’s eyes widened. “What?! Why was I not informed of this?”

“Peggy didn’t believe it was important that you knew.”  
  
“I beg to differ. I’m going to have a word with her.”  
  
“If that is what you wish.”

Fox was a bit surprised. How did Lucien not know that Panther had been taken in? It also explained why Panther never called him. Part of him was actually relieved that he was taken away. However, he was also concerned with what the agency had done to him. 

Being stuck in the elevator with the hooded man was tense. He radiated an aura that Fox couldn’t trust under any circumstance. And judging by Lucien’s glare at the man, he couldn’t trust him either. 

The elevator stopped suddenly and smoothly. When the doors opened, they were greeted by Leonidas, who was wearing only some shorts and had wraps around his fists. “Hey there,” He greeted. “Good to see you L.”  
  
“You’re… not mad at me?” He asked.

“A bit disappointed, but you’re still a good friend of mine, and I wasn’t going to let that ruin our friendship.”  
  
Lucien was grateful. He had lost too many friends due to his work. Not all of them just died, but a lot of them, he broke the trust of. One, he remembered, was actually Katharina, who he betrayed to make sure that Peggy's initial plans didn't carry out. That was a long mission and a story for another time. “Oh… thank you Leo." Lucien said softly. "But have you met your father yet?”  
  
He furrowed his eyebrows. “No, not yet. Honestly, I wanted you by my side when I do that. I need you L.”

“Okay. I’ll be right next to you.”

“And Fox,” He smiled at the vulpine. “Panther’s waiting in his room, Valentine will take you to him.”

The two friends split up and Fox followed behind the hooded man. That same aura was radiating from him, making his hair stand up. He took the vulpine to a narrow hallway with a few automatic doors on each side. One of them opened up when he scanned a card through a small sensor, making the door open. 

It was a small room, with only a small desk with a tall cupboard next to it for clothes. On the opposite side of the room was the twin bed, where Panther laid wearing nothing aside from a jock strap. The hooded man seem unphased by it, but Fox blushed. “Babe?” He asked.

“Mmm? Fox?”

“Panther!”  
  
Without any warning, Fox jumped on his boyfriend and kissed him. The feline was surprised at first, but made no objections to the kiss. Things got passionate quickly, causing the man to quickly back out and close the doors without so much as a blush on his face. 

While the couple had their fun, Lucien followed Leonidas down to where Wolf resided. The large lupine’s hands were shaking and his jaw clenched. As a result, he suddenly grabbed the smaller reptile’s hand and stopped in front of his father’s door. “Are you ready?” Lucien asked, holding out a key card.

“I-I don’t know. If I see his face, I don’t know what will happen.”  
  
“Beat him up a little.” The komodo suggested, opening the door. “Oh look, there he is.”  
  
There he sat, Wolf O’Donnell. Once the most feared mercenary in Lylat turned priest reading a book in the darkness. A small ball of light floated over his book, allowing him to read the solid text. As soon as he saw the two, the ball extinguished and the text in the book began to shift rapidly, making it unreadable. “And who are you two?”  
  
“Well I’m an agent.” Lucien answered. “And this is my friend Leonidas. I’m sure you know him.”  
  
“Wait,” The lupine whispered, eye wide. “Albino… Leonidas… Son, is that you?”  
  
As soon as Wolf called him son, Leo froze as memories of his childhood flashed through his mind. From his father stepping on his face to the same man punching him in the gut, causing him to cough up blood, Leonidas remembered it all. Years of therapy seemed to go to waste. Yet, he managed to curl his hand into a fist right before lunging at his father. He hit him, hard. The elderly lupine was launched into the back wall. Lucien did nothing as the son marched forwards and picked his father up by the collar. “You… you dare call yourself a priest when you’re the most evil man in Lylat?!”  
  
“S-Son,” Wolf gasped, grabbing at the boy’s wrists. “I’m sorry. I truly am.”  
  
“It’s too late for sorry.” Leonidas replied, smashing his head into the concrete wall again.

“Leo,” Lucien said calmly. “Don’t kill him. He’s still needed.”  
  
“How badly can I hurt him?”  
  
“As long as he isn’t dead and is still conscious.”

“No,” Wolf growled. “We’re talking this out!”  
  
Suddenly, the necklace the elderly lupine wore began to glow. It spread to his entire body and soon, he bursted, blinding the others in the room. It sent Leonidas flying, hitting Lucien and pinning the small komodo to the ground. When they came to, Wolf looked like his wounds had healed. “I’m not partial to violence anymore, but that doesn’t mean I won’t defend myself!” He announced. 

“D-damn you.” Leonidas cursed. 

Lucien smacked the side of his stomach. “Get off of me!”

“Oh damn, sorry L.”

The lupine stood up and the reptile followed, nearly tripping as he did so. Leonidas caught him, smiling down at him with a wink. Lucien wasn’t phased by it. Calmly, he dusted himself off and stood up to Wolf. “You’re an awful man who doesn’t deserve forgiveness in the eyes of anyone or anything. Whatever angel you worship I know I cannot trust.”

“Your words mean little. And I have no relations with you.”  
  
“I disagree. As long as Leonidas is my friend, I will burden his problems.”

Wolf glared and let out a small growl. He then turned to his son and his expression softened. “Son, I’m… I’m sorry. I know that there is no way to make up for the things I’ve done.”  
  
“Don't call me that.” Leonidas growled. “You have no right to call me your son!”

The elderly lupine flinched. “I… I understand, Leonidas. Although, I must say, it’s good to see how far you’ve grown. I’m glad my former self didn’t diminish your will.”

“Whatever. Come on Lucien, I can’t stand the sight of him anymore.”

“Alright."

The large wolf took the smaller reptile by the hand and practically dragged him out of the room. Meanwhile, Fox laid next to Panther on the small bed. His head was being stroked by the large, soft hand of his partner. “I’m sorry for never calling you.” He apologized. “But when I was brought here, they took away my phone and wouldn’t allow me to contact you.”  
  
“It’s okay hon.” Fox replied. “Are you still mad?”  
  
“I was never mad, I just needed to process everything. And I confronted Katharina.”

The vulpine sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, yikes. Was she tougher than you thought?”  
  
“A lot tougher.” He laughed. “She kicked my ass.”  
  
“Yeah, Lucien kicked my ass too.”  
  
“Ah, I thought something was different between you two. Things seemed tense and Lucien was acting different.”  
  
“I think Lucien has always been different… like he was acting this whole time. I talked to Leonidas. He said that Lucien’s a kind person, but he just grew cold over time.”  
  
“I see. What do you think will happen now?”  
  
“Wait and see. Right now, I’m just happy to be back with you.”  
  
For the time being, that was all that mattered to Fox. He just wanted to be with the love of his life, who held him softly in his big strong arms. More than that, he was relieved that Panther was never angry with him. He feared that more than losing his father again. For Panther was who he truly loved.

While the two cuddled in their afterglow, Lucien confronted his boss in her office. He stormed in and slammed his fist down on her oak desk, splintering the wood. “Peggy, what the hell?!” He demanded. “You detained Panther and didn’t inform me?! What the fuck.”

“You speak too freely.” She replied. “Swearing at your superior, how rude.”  
  
“I don’t give a flying merde! Tell me why you didn’t inform me, now!”  
  
“Fine. We didn’t because we knew you’d react exactly like this. You would’ve jumped out plans before we were ready.”  
  
Lucien calmed. “Was that so hard, Peggy?”

“Anything else?”  
  
“Yeah. Are we bringing Draco with us? He’s from there, right?”  
  
She nodded. “He is. And he’s absolutely coming with you all. He’s the only one that speaks the language there.”  
  
“I haven’t met him yet. Care to introduce me?”  
  
“Sure. Follow me.”

Peggy walked out of the room with her agent behind her. He was still furious with his boss, causing venom to flood to his glands. It escaped through his lips and fell on the floor as he walked, and a poor janitor tripped and fell later on. They went to the resident hall and opened one door, where they found a nakid reptile doing pull-ups from a bar. The mouse woman was right in the face of the man’s junk, making her groan and put a hand up to separate her face from it. “Really Draco? Put some clothes on.”  
  
“Clothes stupid.” He mumbled. “Draco want to feel free.”  
  
“Please Draco,” She begged. “You’re meeting a new partner.”  
  
“It’s okay,” Lucien stated. “I’ve seen bigger. Bonjour Draco, I’m Lucien. Enchente.”

The reptile dropped down from the bar. He was tall, at least 6,6. His scales were all red and black, with his arms, shoulders and face being completely red and his chest, neck and legs being black. Two large, curved horns stood tall on top of his head, looking like a pair of spears. And his muscles were something to worship. Leonidas had nothing on the guy. They were almost grotesque. “I Draco.” He stated in poor standard. “You are small man. Weak.”

The komodo raised an eyebrow. “Want to say that again, mon ami?”

Draco leaned down. “You weak.”

Lucien turned back to his boss, who nodded once, giving him the go-ahead. Not wasting a second, the komodo grabbed the horns of the dragon and headbutted him, followed by a knee to the gut. To finish it, he flipped Draco onto his back, using his entire body to hoist the muscled man over him. Once he was done, Lucien pressed his foot on his neck. “How was that for a weak guy like me?”  
  
The dragon shrugged. “Draco surprised, will admit. Please do be taking foot off throat.”  
  
“Not until you apologize.”  
  
“Alright. Draco sorry. There, happy?”

Lucien smiled. “Very.”

Being a good sport, the komodo offered his hand to Draco, who accepted it. After that, he put on some boxers, nothing more. He seemed to take an immediate liking to Lucien, pulling him into his side and squishing him between his pec and bicep. “I like small reptile, Peggy!” He exclaimed joyfully. “What is name, friend?”  
  
“I’m Lucien.” The suffocating komodo answered. “And you’re going to kill me with your muscles.”  
  
“Have heard that many times! Draco think you just as pretty as hoars back home.”  
  
If Lucien had any water in his mouth, it would’ve come flying out. Instead some venom did. Regardless of that, the dragon continued. “Lucien, will you have sex with Draco?”  
  
“What is it with big guys and wanting to bone me?” The tired komodo asked. “Hey meathead, I’m a guy!”  
  
He tilted his head. “Matters little to Draco. Hole is hole.”

“Peggy.” Lucien growled. “Do something.”  
  
She giggled. “Oh no, I’m enjoying this too much.”  
  
Lucien groaned. He had no desire to be nearly split in half again. That was when Leonidas found them and noticed how uncomfortable his friend was. With a smirk, he took off his shirt and stood at Draco’s side, squishing Lucien between two pecs. He didn’t even blush, he just seemed annoyed. His mood was further deteriorated when Peggy took a photo and sent it out to the agency group-chat. “I want to die.” Lucien stated.

“Would you like to die by training?” Leonidas asked.

“What is training?” Draco asked.

The lupine whispered the answer to the dragon, making his eyes widen. “Oh yes, I do that too.”

“Alright enough boys.” The komodo announced. “No one is training me and no one is having sex with me!”  
  
“I already did.”  
  
Peggy laughed. “Wait what?!” 

Lucien turned red. Not from embarrassment, but from anger. “You oaf! Ugh, I can’t believe you told our boss we had sex! It was one time and we were both buzzed! Never again.”

The agent stormed out of the room to go find Fox and Panther. Leonidas was a bit hurt by his words. Sure he might have pushed it a bit; taking off his shirt to further embarrass his friend, but it still hurt. Plus, he rather enjoyed their experience together.

Lucien continued down the halls. But as he did so, he got caught up by a few coworkers who he hadn’t heard from awhile. Two of them were going to be on the team crossing into the Other World. One of them was the team leader, a buff doberman named Yuri and the other was another medic named Felica, a dove woman. “Yuri, can you gather the entire team? Fox should meet them all.” Lucien requested.  
  
“Will do. Meet us in the cafeteria.” He answered. 

Lucien nodded and headed towards Panther’s room. He was frustrated that it was Yuri who was chosen to be the mission leader. If anyone deserved it, it should be James. He was the one who sacrificed his arm and legs for the sake of it. Literally. As to why James wasn’t the leader, Lucien could only assume it was because he compromised the mission twice. It still wasn’t fair to him, Peggy had no idea how much pain James was going through. 

He soon made it to the bedroom and found the couple getting dressed after waking from their afterglow. “Panther,” He said. “I’m sorry about Katharina. I had no idea she took you in. Peggy never told me.”  
  
“Really?” Fox asked. “It sounds like important information.”  
  
“Apparently not to her. Listen, between us three, I don’t like Peggy, nor do I wholly trust her.”

“Then why is she in charge?” Panther asked.

“Because, she’s the only one with a cold enough heart to get things done. This job isn’t easy and you need to operate without any regrets. Lives may need to be sacrificed and Peggy is the only woman I know who can do it.”  
  
“So why don’t you trust her?”  
  
“She won’t hesitate to kill us for what she deems as the greater good. Now come on, I’m introducing you to the team.”

In total, there were a dozen of them, all who had gathered in the cafeteria. There was Mason, Dagon, Leonidas, Felica, Fox, Panther and Lucien who were all recognizable, but there were still four others they had yet to meet. One of them was the hooded man with the crimson eyes. He had his hood down, showing his paper-white fur and skin. Bats always gave Fox chills, since some do have a large diet of blood. 

The other person was a pretty seal woman who wore a string bikini, for whatever reason. It was unusual to see long, light blue hair on an animal like her, but she had a plethora of it going down her back. Another was a viper man wearing a tight latex suit and mask. He had a large katana on his back with a dark green edge to it. Then there were the three most shocking. There stood Falco, Wolf and Krystal. Falco had a bright smile on his face, but Krystal scorned at her two exes while Wolf looked away, staring at his son. “Ayo Foxy!” The falcon greeted. “Good to see ya.”  
  
“No way,” Fox replied, smiling. “You’re coming with us? Good to have another person I trust.”  
  
“Same here man, but these are chill dudes. Mason’s my new bro and I have a cool thing going on with Melphia.” He winked at the seal woman. “Right babe?”  
  
She rolled her eyes. “It was one night.”

“Best night of your life, right?”  
  
“Sure, whatever. You did better than most, I’ll admit.”

“Falco,” Fox said sternly. “You’re with Katt.”  
  
The falcon sucked in a sharp breath. “Yeah about that… we broke up.”  
  
“It better not be because of that woman.”

“Don’t worry about it, boss. I promise we broke up for other reasons.”

“Fine. But you’re moving on this quickly?”

“You know it. Either way, uh…” He looked back at Krystal. “So we’re working with Krys. And you two are her exes who are now fucking. I’m not telling you to, but I'd recommend you talk to her and clear things up so there’s no bad blood before the mission.”  
  
“Great,” Panther groaned. “Just what I wanted.”  
  
“Trust me,” Krystal said. “I’m not thrilled about this whatsoever. And for the record, I’m not angry for you two getting together. You’re both single and got into each other, it is what it is. But I’ll admit, I’m surprised by it.”

“Yeah but how do we know that you won’t betray us like you betrayed Star Fox?” Fox asked, glaring.  
  
She growled. “Simple; I’m not dating you. You weren’t the best boyfriend.”  
  
“I wouldn’t call you the best girlfriend either.”  
  
Panther narrowed his eyes. “I see your breakup was a lot more messy than ours. She just left me out of the blue.”  
  
“It wasn’t out of the blue!” She scorned. “I had a lot going on in my head.”

“And you never said anything about it! How can you expect us to fix problems when you keep it all bottled up?"  
  
“I-” She paused before a growl. “Whatever. None of that matters now. What matters is making sure Lylat doesn’t fall into ruin.”

“Thank you for wrapping that up.” Lucien replied. “And Krys, I’m here if you need to talk, okay?”  
  
She nodded with a soft smile. “Okay Lucien. Thanks.”

Fox raised an eyebrow at his former roommate. Did he have a friendship with Krystal he didn’t know about? It was practically confirmed when the two met in an embrace and began talking in fluent Venomillian. When did Krystal learn to speak his language; Fox wondered. For some reason it bothered him that Lucien was so chummy with his ex. 

Yet he was more concerned with Wolf, who had said nothing the entire time. He didn’t so much as look at them. Instead, he clutched his book to his chest and kept staring at his son, who was arm wrestling with Dagon. The table broke before a winner was decided. 

Ignoring that, Panther placed a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Hey, let’s make sure we’re completely open with one another. Not doing that was what ruined our relationships with Krystal.”

Fox rested his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Well you just opened me up a few minutes ago.” 

“You naughty fox.” 

Behind them, a woman coughed. “Gentlemen.”

They spun around to be face-to-face with Peggy, who seemed taller than usual. She was now wearing even taller heels. Ones that looked like they were killer on her toes. Regardless of that, she told them all she was going to brief them on the mission and needed them all to follow her to a secure room.

Said secure room was a dark room with a few dozen chairs lined up in rows with a projector over them. Once they were all seated, the projector turned on and an image of a large narrow and tall gate appeared. Clouds and a blinding light were pouring out of it, falling into the ocean below. It was built into a massive mountain and a few smaller ones with cities built on top of them surrounded it. The towers seemed ruined, signaling that no one has lived in them for a while. Yet there was a person with large wings flying at whoever took the photo. 

Peggy explained that the image was the gate of Sahaquiel. It was what led to the Other World. The area around it was all destabilized so the photo had to be taken with an incredibly powerful hand-held camera. “It was James who took the photo.” She stated, looking directly at Fox. 

“And who is that flying at him?” The vulpine asked.

“That would be the one who brought James through the gate.”  
  
The image changed. It was a photo of James with another person next to him. They seemed to have posed for it, so the person must've been friendly at some point. At a first glance, it would seem like the person was a seafoam green deer, just incredibly tall, well over eight feet, not even counting his antlers. However, after a closer look, one could see the large wings on his back, his peacock-like tail and the avian feet with four sharp talons on each. The lower his body went, the more the color changed from seafoam green to wine red. It was the same on his wings and tail.

And then there was James, who looked like a raisin in comparison to the person next to him. Fox couldn’t rip his eyes from his father, who had changed so much. He looked much older, with gray hairs all over his face and eyes still hidden behind his shades. His right arm was all metal and so was his left leg. They must’ve been lost when he faked his death. “What is that?” Falco asked, looking at the strange deer.

“Possibly the last guardian of the Gate.” Peggy answered. “That is a Peryton, a deer with wings and avian features. According to James he was incredibly friendly. Also according to him, the Perytons were the servants of Sahaquiel and were nearly wiped out when the gate was cracked open by Andross.”  
  
“Were they the ones living in those cities?” Krystal asked. 

“They were. And our friend here, who goes by Zephu, was the only surviving one. James claimed it was because his parents protected him when he was just a baby.”  
  
“So this thing here is only a teen?” 

“That’s correct. And he’s the last of his kind.”

“You said he brought James through the gate,” Mason began. “Does that mean we lost contact with James?”  
  
She nodded. “Yes. James is already in the Other World and we have no idea where he is. Nor do we know why Zephu brought him through the gate so suddenly."  
  
Fox’s muscles tightened all at once. His father was lost to him yet again? But this time he had no tears to cry. He cried enough for him over the past years. And with Panther by his side, who softly rubbed his hand as he rubbed it, he felt no need to cry. But he wasn’t about to give up on his father yet. That first image alone was enough to give him some hope that his dad was alive, and that was all he needed. “Then we need to move.” Fox said coldly. “When are we leaving?”  
  
Peggy smirked. “As soon as you leave this room, your mission begins. Your personal belongings have already been moved to the ship and you’ll be leaving.”  
  
All of them were surprised for a second. It seemed so sudden and not all of them had mentally prepared for what was to come. Yet more than half of them had bright smiles, including Fox. Seeing that most of them were ready, Peggy concluded the meeting and had guards lead them down to their secret hangar, where a large ship was waiting to transport them all.

The ship was a lot nicer than all of them were expecting. It had enough rooms for all of them, a few changes of clothes, a kitchen powered by a gas stove, a working fridge with a giant block of ice in the bottom of it and bright oil lamps hanging from the ceiling. There was nothing about the ship that was electronic. The engines were steam-powered and the rockets were all raw fuel, rather than the usual plasma of modern ships. “This is incredible.” Fox whispered. “An entire ship powered without any electricity… how hard was it to make this?”  
  
“I have a buddy in R&D,” Mason stated. “He said this thing was a pain in the ass. They had the tech, but getting such primitive things to work up to modern standards was the challenge.”  
  
“So it works just as good as the Great Fox?”

“Faster, even. But it’s loud as all hell and it’s hard to maneuver.”  
  
“Come on hon,” Panther stated. “Let’s go check out our room.”

Fox nodded and followed his boyfriend to their bedroom. It was actually a surprising sight. They had a queen sized bed which was placed between two nightstands with oil lamps on them. The quilts on it looked so warm and comfy, Fox wanted nothing more to make himself into a burrito with it. For Panther, it reminded him of his mother’s sowing. When he picked it up, he saw his mother’s signature. “Wait what?!” He exclaimed. “My mother made this!”

Fox gasped. “And there’s watermelon flavored lube in the nightstand! That's my favorite!” He reached in and pulled out a fun toy. “Oh fuzzy handcuffs!”

“That’s right,” Krystal said, who apparently has the room across from theirs. “Peggy asked the interior decorators to buy things that would mean something to the occupants. For Panther, it was a quilt from his mother and for Fox, it was sex stuff.”

“Hard to believe,” Lucien replied, who has the room next to hers. “She’s not a nice woman.”  
  
“Give her a little credit, Lucien. She’s trying because your words actually mean something to her."

"Uh huh. Sure."

The komodo rolled his eyes and walked into his bedroom. He froze as soon as he did. It was almost exactly like his childhood room back when he still lived on Venom. Memories flooded in of that time, when he would cower in fear during the air raids and hide when the Andross enforcers were looking for any children to be used for manual labor. 

He ran out of the bedroom and slammed his door shut. Panicked, rapid-fire Venomillian poured out of his mouth as he began to sweat. Krystal saw it and rushed to his side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. To see what was wrong with him, she reached into his mind. She saw all of his memories, making her gasp. “Oh you poor thing,” She whispered, holding his head under her chin. “It’s okay, you can stay with me.”

“M-merci,” He whispered, walking with her to the bedroom. “Je la déteste."

“I know, but it’s going to be alright. I’ll brew us some tea in the kitchen.”

He nodded again and laid down on Krystal’s bed. The memories were starting to fade, allowing him to relax, staring at the flame in the oil lamp next to him. According to Peggy, the trip would take two weeks to make it to the gate, so they had a lot of time to bond and get to know one another. Or, tension would appear and grow.

After about five minutes, Krystal returned with two ceramic cups of tea. She handed one to Lucien, who could tell what it was by smell alone. “Black tea with berries?”

“That’s right.” 

“Merci, mon ami.”  
  
“De rien.”

Together, the two sipped their tea while the couple across the room broke in the bed. Both of their faces fell flat when they heard Fox scream for Panther to go harder. Apparently the walls were fairly thin. One would think Lucien would be used to it. That person would be wrong. If there's one thing he hated, it was the sound of others having sex. “They had sex barely an hour ago.” Lucien stated, annoyed. “How are they going again?”

“Both of them have quite the sex drive. Especially Panther.”  
  
“I’m sure you know all about that, cherie.” He joked.

“Had a lot more sex with him than Fox. Honestly I haven’t had sex since Panther.”

Lucien raised an eyebrow. “Really? Even I’ve had sex since then.”  
  
“Wait what?!”  
  
The komodo giggled. “I decided to try things with Leonidas.”

“And?!” She asked excitedly. 

“And I did not enjoy it. It felt like I was being torn in half. He was massive.”

“Oh my god. We haven’t talked in awhile. Let’s catch up.”  
  
Lucien smiled and talked about what living with Fox was like. Afterall, Krystal only lived with him while they were still on the Great Fox. To hear how much of a slut Fox was, surprised Krystal. Especially when Lucien mentioned most of them were men. It bothered her, mainly because she was wondering if he ever did anything with Falco or Slippy while they were together. Then again, Fox didn’t seem like the chubby-chasing type. What shocked her the most was when the komodo told her that Fox kissed him. Now she was worried about how the two would be during the mission. If they had some kind of messy past, it could compromise things. 

Another concern she had was Wolf. There was still quite a bit of bad blood between the two after she brought him in with Valentine. Speaking of the hooded man, he stood at the entrance of her room with a glass of what looked like wine, but Krystal knew it was blood. “What do you want, Valentine?” She asked.

“To come in.” He answered. “You know I need your permission first.”  
  
“Really V? You know you're always welcome through my door.” 

The man stepped in and joined them at the bed, but sat on the side. He smiled, showing his large fangs at the two. “So Valentine,” Lucien began. “Enjoying the surplus of blood Peggy had packed for you?”  
  
“Very much so.” He replied with his proper accent. “It’s all O-.”  
  
“Lucky. All I got was traumatic childhood memories.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. If it’s any consolation, Peggy was only trying to be nice.”  
  
“Connerie.” He swore. “That woman was messing with me, I know it. I hate her.”  
  
“That’s entirely possible too.” Valentine admitted. “Either way, what’s going on in the room yours’? It sounds… rough.”  
  
“Rough sex.” Krystal answered. “My exes are fucking one another."

The bat began to laugh loudly, annoying the vixen. Valentine doesn’t laugh at much, so it must be really funny to him. “That has to be one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard! And I’m over five hundred years old, so I've heard a lot!” 

“Yeah, yeah whatever.” She groaned. 

“You have to admit it’s a little funny.” Lucien stated.

“You’re supposed to be on my side!”  
  
Before Lucien could argue, the ship lurched forwards, causing them to nearly spill their tea. They were taking off. There wasn’t much of anything they could do, they just had to trust their pilot. Who happened to be Falco. Upon remembering that, Krystal felt sick to her stomach, so she finished her cup of tea to calm it down. 

After a few more minutes of rough shaking, they had broken the atmosphere and were now flying in space. They had a nice view from the thick window. It wasn’t long until they passed by Venom, bringing back more memories for Lucien. This time, he just sighed and drank more tea. 

It was a long journey ahead. And space was full of anomalies that could possibly endanger them. Two whole weeks of facing the unknowns of space. It sounded almost dreadful to Lucien. He hated being stuck in enclosed spaces. He also knew that the ship would probably become one giant orgy. People already fuck on two hour flights, but two weeks on a ship with queen sized beds? If they had a black-light at the end of the two weeks, the entire ship would light up.

And what would positions be called in space? Things would need to be reinvented with zero-gravity. Doggy style would become the rear-thruster. The missionary would be the beast with two heads. Sixty-nine becomes the infinite loop. And the reverse cowgirl would be the atomic wrangler. 

It was something that the couple could freely explore, much to the annoyance of everyone on the ship. Lucien was already writing a script for an intervention he planned on doing. It was a few pages long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course I'm the kind of person that would think about sex in space. What would that actually be like? Would feralization of the eggs be difficult without gravity? Let alone delivering a baby! Oh my goodness how hard would that be? Women have it rough as it is, but trying to give birth without the help of gravity sounds like a whole different challenge. 
> 
> On another note: Peryton's were a kind of deer that lived in Atlantis. If any of that ever existed. I thought a fun mythological creature like them would be perfect for what's in store. 
> 
> Final thing, next chapter is most likely going to be the last. (When I'm writing the next I'll decide or not, maybe one more) Then I'll be taking some time to actually create the Other World. Of course I have an idea for it already, but there are so many nations to create, a history, politics, economics, religion, mythology and separate ideologies. Not to mention quite a few new characters and their personalities. It'll probably take me a few weeks. But while I do that I'll also work on my other one to keep people satisfied. 
> 
> And as always, thanks for reading! Seeing over 400 hits is pretty cool.


	13. The Gate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, last chapter. Kind of short, but please enjoy.

It had been a rough two weeks, full of many hardships and annoyances. In two days, Lucien had an intervention with Panther and Fox so they could at least quiet down their bedroom activities. Then there was the issue when Leonidas’ room was destroyed because he and Draco tried to do things together, but neither could decide who was going to top. A fight broke out resulting in a broken bed, so for the rest of the trip, Leondias slept in Lucien’s old room.

As for Lucien, he had been sleeping nightly with Krystal. As far as anyone knew, it wasn’t in a sexual way. No sound came from their room at night aside from Lucien’s soft singing, accompanied by Krystal playing a thumb piano, which was placed in her room by Peggy.

Just before they were about to cross into the realm of the Gate, Felicia used the bathroom. While she was in there, she looked to her right and saw what she thought was a pregnancy test in the trash can. And she was right. What made things worse was that it displayed a positive result. The dove woman held it in her hands, which shook from shock. “Oh shit,” She swore. “Who does this belong to?”  
  
She didn’t even know if she should bring it up. There were only two other girls on the ship, those being Krystal and Melphia. It certainly wasn’t her’s. While she was thinking, she remembered Falco mentioning that he had a thing with Melphia going on. Most likely it was her’s. 

Once again, however, she didn’t even know if she should bring it up. So she went to Lucien, who would give her a good opinion. She found the komodo in the medical bay, where he was doing a checkup on Draco. As she walked in, she heard the dragon asking Lucien if he wants to have sex again. In response, the smaller man took a potted flower and broke it over his head without looking away from his clipboard. “Well aside from literal fire in your belly, everything looks good.”  
  
“What about head?” He asked, rubbing the spot where Lucien hit him.

“I might’ve given you a concussion. I’d be surprised. For those, the brain has to hit the skull back and forth, but yours is so small that I doubt it could.”  
  
“Rude.”  
  
“Stop hitting on me.”  
  
“Psst, Lucien,” Felicia whispered. “Over here.”

“Mmm? Oh salut Felicia, what’s the matter?”  
  
The dove pulled out the pregnancy test, making the komodo’s eyes widen. He quickly pushed Dagon out of the room and looked at it with wide eyes. “Merde.” He swore. “Vraiment? Maintenant?!”

“What happened?” She asked.

“N-Nothing. Nothing at all!”  
  
The woman raised an eyebrow. “Lucien, did you have sex with Krystal?”  
  
He lowered his head. “Y-Yes… We have had intercourse only once. Like with Leonidas, I was curious.”  
  
“And you did it without a condom?” She asked seriously.

“Oui…”  
  
Not missing a beat, Felicia slapped her colleague across the face. He admitted to deserving it, but when she hit him again, he protested. A small fight broke out between the two, which was interrupted by Krystal walking in with a soft smile. “Hey Lucien,” She said. “I'm pregnant!”

“A-And you’re so okay with this?!” He replied. “I knocked you up!”  
  
“I know, but I couldn’t think of anyone better to! You’re responsible, our child can be bi-lingual, and I know you’re kind enough to take care of them even if we don’t stay together. Plus I've been wanting to carry on my people's genes.”

“Stay together?! What are you saying?!”  
  
“I think that we should try to be a couple.” She walked closer. “For the sake of the child at least?”  
  
He sighed deeply. “Okay, I’d be willing to try and form a relationship with you. And what better way to do it than going on an adventure in another world?”  
  
“Speaking of which… Wolf is preparing us to cross into the realm of the gate. Mason ordered us to go to the bridge.”

The two medics nodded and followed Krystal to the ship’s bridge. Lucien was still a bit of a mess. He just figured out he was going to be a father and entered a relationship with Krystal. It felt more overwhelming than the mission itself. Yet he had to keep his composure together, following his new girlfriend to the bridge of the ship.

"Seriously," Felicia stated. "How did you get her pregnant after only one time?"  
  
"I'm sorry that I, a virgin, has a weak pull-out game." He sarcastically replied.

"Nothing else was weak though." Krystal commented, winking at him.

Blushing, Lucien opened the door to the bridge. In there, the entire team had gathered there with their weapons, which were all ballistic. Things like primitive gunpowder weapons should still work since they required no electricity. 

From the windows of the bridge, they could see more empty space, but Wolf stood at the window with his book open and a hand extended. He began to chant in another language as a glowing ball formed in his hand. Soon enough, the ball exploded, coating everyone and the ship in a thin veil of glowing blue. “Falco,” Wolf stated. “Full speed ahead! We’re breaking through now!”  
  
“Alright, if you say so.” The avian replied, putting the ship into full throttle.

Going as fast as it could go, the ship slammed into an invisible barrier. Falco was about to slow it down when Wolf ordered him not to. “Give the engines all steam!” He yelled. “We need to break the barrier!”

The windows cracked as the ship attempted to break through the invisible barrier. Before they broke completely, the ship lurched forwards suddenly and they were blinded by a bright light. The rest of the ship slid smoothly through the barrier, spitting them out in a whole new place. 

It was like a planet, but there was no sight of any ground aside from the mountains that broke through the dense clouds below. Said mountains had ruined buildings on top of them. And then there was the gate. 

The Gate stood taller than any skyscraper on Corneria. It emitted a light that seemed to illuminate everything around them. Clouds poured out from the bottom of it like a waterfall and the smell of vanilla filled the air. “It’s beautiful.” Felicia whispered. 

“Friends,” Draco stated, pointing at something out the window. “Company.”  
  
All of them jogged up to the window where they could see a figure flying towards them. That must’ve been the Peryton from the photo. But it had crossed through the gate, so why was it there now? It even seemed to know where to go, flying to the airlock and patiently waiting there. “What do we do?” Lucien asked.

“If what Peggy said about him being friendly is true, then we should go meet him.” Mason answered. “I’ll go first.”

Mason walked out of the cockpit with the entire team following behind him. They all met in the airlock room, where they could see the Peryton through the small circular window. He had a bright smile on his face. From the looks of it, the one that James met and the one now were two of the same. When Mason opened the door, the Peryton clapped his hands together. “Greetings Lylatians,” He stated excitedly. “I am Zephu, the last guardian of Sahaquiel’s gate.” 

“A-A pleasure to meet you, Zephu.” Mason replied. “I’m Mason. And this is my team.”  
  
Instead of scanning over them all, the Peryton locked eyes with Fox. He walked towards his, eyeing him cautiously. “You… you are the son of James, are you not?”

“You know my father?” Fox asked immediately. 

The Peryton pushed aside Mason and walked over to the small vulpine. He bent down to meet his eyes. They froze Fox. Zephu’s eyes were completely black, but they seemed like they were filled with stars. He swore he could see nebulas floating through them. “You’re his son, are you not?” He asked.

“Y-Yeah.” Fox answered. 

“He mentioned you. I’m sorry I took him though the gate before you arrived, but my powers activated suddenly and the only way I could save him was by throwing him through the gate.”  
  
“What do you mean your powers only just awoke?” Wolf asked. “You’re a Peryton, you have the powers of Sahaquiel, but a bit more toned down.”  
  
Zephu shook his head. “Not me, I’m afraid. I was gifted with the powers of space itself. I’ve known this, but fourteen rotations ago there was a supernova in a far off place. My body reacted with a nova of its own.”

In order to save James from his bodily explosion, he threw him through the gate so that he’d survive. After the explosion, James’ ship was destroyed and Zephu had a new set of powers, which was creating large bombs that were really small, controlled supernovas. “I’m sorry, son of James.” He apologized. “What I did was to save his life. And I wish to see him again as well. He is a friend.”  
  
“It’s… it’s okay Zephu. I’d rather have him be lost and know he’s alive than know where he is and dead.” Fox replied, putting on his best fake smile.

“To make things up, I shall accompany you all through the Gate.” His face turned grim. “But I must warn you, the Gate is random. Some of you will be split up and placed into random places. Others will be in pairs. There is no logic or reason behind it. It is indiscriminate. A baby and mother could be split, leaving the infant to die in a tundra forest. This goes for objects as well. You could wake up without your clothes and gear. So tell me, are you prepared for this?”

The team got silent. If being sent into a freezing tundra was an option, they all would’ve packed some winter gear. They could be placed in the middle of an ocean. So James could very well be dead. The Peryton seemed to disagree. “No, James lives.” He stated. “He and I formed a pact. A pact that will alert us if our flames of life extinguish.” He raised his wrist, showing a tattoo of a candle which seemed to move. “This is James’ lifeforce. As you can see, it is still burning bright, so he lives.”  
  
“That’s… that’s a relief to know.” Fox replied.

“I’m happy to put your mind at ease. Now,” The Peryton stood up straight. “Who is ready to cross through the Gate? And who would like to go first?”

“Question,” Mason began. “Do you know why Sahaquiel hasn’t repaired this gate yet?”  
  
Zephu shook his head. “No. The Speaker is dead. He was the only one who could communicate with the angel. And I have no connection to him. I was not raised with his prayers and blessings thanks to the fall of my people. So I can only assume something has happened to him.”

“Okay… and if we complete our mission and fix the gate, how do we get out?”  
  
“I will take you out. Only us Peryton can cross the gate and come back out. Of course I can bring people with me as well.”  
  
“Alright. I’ll go first then.” The doberman offered.

Zephu nodded and grabbed onto him, hoisting him onto his back. With a flap of his massive wings, he flew as fast as an arwing. He carried Mason out in front of the Gate, where he simply threw him through it. It seemed to suck him in and just like that, he was gone. Melphia went next, then Draco, Leonidas, Wolf, Felicia, Falco, Krystal, Lucien and then Panther. 

Fox stood in front of his boyfriend, who stood next to the towering Peryton. “Stay safe Panther.” The vulpine whispered, holding his hands. “I hope the gate will put us together. Or at least not too far apart.”  
  
“Me too.” He replied. “I love you.”  
  
“I love you too.”

With a kiss goodbye, Panther climbed on the back of the Peryton. After a second, the wings flapped and Zephu flew off, leaving Fox with tears in his eyes. It only took about thirty seconds for him to return. “Are you ready, son of James?” He asked, holding out his hand.

“I am.” He replied. “Let’s go.”  
  
Zephu nodded and allowed Fox onto his back. Once he was, he flapped his wings and flew. Now that Fox was out in the light, he felt so warm. It was comforting, like a mother’s love. So when he crossed through, everything went to white. Soon, he woke up in the darkest of forests. 

Fox picked himself up slowly. He was quick to realize that he was missing his clothes and weapon, leaving him in the nude. As he rose, he heard something moving in the trees. He looked around, but saw nothing. However, there was something that looked darker than everything else. It seemed to get closer and closer to him, revealing the shape. It really only looked like a black enigma wearing a black cloak. 

When it got to Fox, it reached out a hand. Immediately he felt weak, as if the being was sucking out his life force. He fell to his knees as the creature kept draining him. Suddenly, it stopped when a bright blue light shined behind him. It looked up and snarled before a person attacked, using a lantern to bash the chest of it. A hole was burned right through it and it was sent flying father into the forest.

The person who helped Fox up was very short and also wore a cloak, but it was dark green and the vulpine could actually see his arms and legs. In his right hand the person carried a lantern that glowed the blue light. The person turned around, but their face was still hidden. “Take my hand outsider,” A young male voice whispered. “I will take you out from the forest.”  
  
Not sure what else to do, Fox took the person’s hand. With that, the person ran at full speed. He was faster than the fastest athlete back on Corneria. The vulpine was practically floating off of the ground because of the person’s speed. As the person ran, more of the enigmas came after them, only to be blown away when they were hit by the lantern. 

After about five minutes of running, they made it to the edge of the forest. The person didn’t seem to be able to go beyond it and instead threw Fox into a clear green field. With that, the figure who had just saved him disappeared back into the forest, fighting more of the enigmas with little effort.

Fox wanted to know who the person was, but he felt so weak. His energy was just drained by whatever that creature was. It wasn’t long until he collapsed. Before he blacked out, he heard a familiar feminine voice. “Holy shit. Fox, is that you?”  
  
He whispered, recognizing the voice. “S-Sam?”

“Hold on, I got you.”  
  
The tall woman picked him up with little effort. Fox only got one glimpse at her before he passed out, but he knew who she was immediately. She was a human, with long blond hair with bangs and greenish-blue eyes that made her beautiful face more stunning. It was his old friend from the past, one he thought he’d never see again. 

Before he could process more, he passed out. Despite not knowing where everyone was, he felt safe in the arms of his friend, who brought him to a small house a half mile away. She laid him down in a hay bed, where another person, an elderly sheep woman, walked into the room. “Another person who crossed the Gate?” She asked.

The woman nodded. “He’s a friend too. We can trust him, promise.”  
  
“How delightful. Where did you find him?”  
  
“Outside of the forbidden forest.” She answered. “I think one of the Reapers drained him. But… how did he survive?”  
  
“They say that another spirit lives there, one who saves the lost from a terrible demise. I know him well.”  
  
The human woman tilted her head. “And how is that?”  
  
“Simple. He’s my son, who died in that forest. Now he’s the shepherd of the forbidden forest.” The elderly woman looked out her window at the forest. “I couldn’t be more proud of my son.”

The blonde woman felt bad for her friend. She often mentioned her son, who had passed away, but each time she did, she was always happy. And the human was feeling happy too. Despite her friend being in such a rough shape, she was glad to be able to see him again. All she wanted to know was how he got there. It was confusing to her. 

‘Is there more than one gate aside from Raphael’s?’ She thought to herself. ‘If so, how many are there?’

She shook her head from her thoughts and sat on the side of the bed, rubbing her friend’s head. He was so cute when he was sleeping. She remembered when he would be put to sleep by an attack, he would curl up and rest his head on his hands. More happy memories came back as she sat beside her friend, who slowly began to regain strength to help him face the crazy new world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm gonna take a few weeks to make this new world and still work on my other fic. I hope you enjoyed this, at least, even if I made some silly, stupid mistakes as I wrote it.


End file.
